Risk factors associated with burnout amongst nurses in intensive care units.

Abstract

Burnout has been a pervasive subject in working life for decades and it still prevalent amongst various workforces worldwide. It affects the personal, professional lives of workers, compromising patient safety and hindering organizational goals. As an alarming public health concern, it has become imperative to study this phenomenon and develop strategies to mitigate its impacts. The aim of this review is to identify the risk factors associated with burnout amongst intensive care unit nurses to improve the general working conditions in ICU nursing. A literature search was done on CINAHL and PubMed. The search yielded 225 articles which were screened for full text and availability. 28 full text articles were screened and 7 articles were finally included in the study. Only studies involving Intensive care unit (ICU) nurses were included in the study. Various work related, individual, organizational and socio-demographic factors influenced the development of burnout. High workload, inadequate staffing, long working hours, younger age and low hospital grading positively correlated with burnout. Favourable workplace or organizational characteristics, good interpersonal relations and leadership, satisfaction with job, effective coping strategies, high agreeableness, physical activity, good mental and psychological health, resource availability, healthy intra-familiar relations and high professional experience had a negative correlation. In conclusion, ICU nurses are at risk of and experience burnout for many reasons. This affects not only their personal or professional lives but endangers patients´ safety and burdens health care organizations economically. These devastating effects of burnout prompts the need for diversified approaches in assessment, analysis and in designing solutions to safeguard the lives of patients, healthcare organizations and the society in general.