Occupational burnout assessment among nurses working in Iranian hospital of Ali-ebn Abitaleb, Rafsanjan- Iran

Abstract

Background: Burnout, a phenomenon that is of interest for both individuals and organizations, is characterized by decreasing energy, power and resources in the presence of excessive demands. Nurses are more prone to develop burnout due to both the emotional nature of their jobs as well as patients' demand. The present study was aimed to assess burnout among nurses working in the Iranian hospital of Ali-ebn Abitaleb Rafsanjan, Iran 2010. Material and Methods: in this descriptive study, 134 nurses (working in Med-Surge, ER, ICU, CCU, and Neurology units) were randomly recruited. The data were collected in two sections. Demographic variables including age, sex, diet, work experience, marital and employment status and academic degree were asked in the first section. Maslach burnout tool was applied for measuring burnout in nurses, in the second section. Results: Most nurses (63%) were women and married (74.8%). Mean age of nurses was 33.84 8.7 years with a minimum of 24 and maximum of 53 years. Mean score of burnout was 78.43 15 with a minimum of 26 and maximum of 132. There was a significant association, between gender and degree of burnout (p <0.05). Higher score of burnout was reported among those with shorter duration of working in their job (0-5 years) comparing to nurses with a longer duration (more than 20 years) of working in their job (p <0.05). Conclusions: Our findings showed that burnout affected nurses significantly. Therefore, it seems that this problem must be studied and related factors should be recognized, in order to reduce burnout among nurses. Many aspects of nurse's job should be noticed and appropriate intervention should be conducted. These aspects include their salary, job security, their lesure and their dayly working hours.