ASSESSMENT OF FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH BURNOUT LEVELS AMONG NURSING STAFF IN TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL. A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract

Background: There is a global trend of occupational burnout among clinical nurses, which is negatively impacting on their retention, mental health and the quality of patient care. Acute care nurses in developing nations like Pakistan are given increased workloads due to the lack of resources in the health care system.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and important organizational factors of Burnout, Job Satisfaction and turnover among the nursing personnel of a semi-government tertiary care hospital Karachi, Pakistan. 

Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study method was used involving 175 active bedside nurses, purposively sampled. A structured questionnaire was used to gather the data on the demographic and occupational factors, burnout indicators, aspects of job satisfaction and job turn-over history. SPSS version 26 software was used for both descriptive and inferential statistics.

Results: The respondents were mostly females (60.6%), single (84.6%), BSN educated (85.1), working in acute care units (77.1). The most common signs of burnout were physical depletion (48.6%), general fatigue (45.1%), awareness of becoming more susceptible to illness (41.7%) and emotional depletion (36.6%). There was a strong dissatisfaction amongst the respondents towards salary (51.0%), career growth (46.0%) and work atmosphere (42.0%), while 68.0% were satisfied with the working/peer relationships. Importantly, 71.1% said that a lack of staffing had a negative effect on their mental health and 53.9% said they had given up nursing jobs because of burnout.

Conclusion: Overall, the causes of nurse burnout and attrition in this context are mainly structural issues of the workplace, including unsafe staffing, low pay, and lack of career advancement opportunities. While peer support is an important social lubricant, it can't compensate for organizational stressors. Structural changes to ensure nurse-to-patient staffing ratios, to promote competitive nurse compensation packages and to create promotion pathways are critical to protect clinician health and to foster workforce stability at the health system level.