AIMS: The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between a hospital's social capital, individual decision latitude, workload and emotional exhaustion in nurses, controlling for age, sex, years of professional experience and job tenure. BACKGROUND: In western countries between 15-45% of nurses working in hospitals suffer from burnout, characterised by emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and decreased personal performance. The prevention of burnout constitutes a great challenge to those responsible for the health care system, not least because burnout may cause increasing turnover rates in nurses and lead to medical mistakes. DESIGN: Survey. METHOD: A questionnaire was mailed to 1325 nurses working at four hospitals in east and west Germany in 2002. Nine hundred and fifty nine nurses responded (response rate: 72.4%). RESULTS: Logistic regression identified three significant predictors of emotional exhaustion in nurses: workload (OR: 4.523, CI: 3.230-6.333) was positively associated with emotional exhaustion. Decision latitude (OR: 0.376, CI: 0.254-0.557) and social capital in the hospitals (OR: 0.549, CI: 0.403-0.746) were negatively associated with emotional exhaustion. Emotional exhaustion was not affected by age, sex, years of professional experience and job tenure. Nagelkerke's Pseudo R(2) was 0.225. CONCLUSIONS: The findings underline the importance of social capital and organisational development in hospital management. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Efforts to create a good working atmosphere with readiness to provide mutual support and the pursuit of joint values in a hospital, the reduction of workload and increased decision latitude may prevent the development of emotional exhaustion in nurses.
AIMS: The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between a hospital's social capital, individual decision latitude, workload and emotional exhaustion in nurses, controlling for age, sex, years of professional experience and job tenure. BACKGROUND: In western countries between 15-45% of nurses working in hospitals suffer from burnout, characterised by emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and decreased personal performance. The prevention of burnout constitutes a great challenge to those responsible for the health care system, not least because burnout may cause increasing turnover rates in nurses and lead to medical mistakes. DESIGN: Survey. METHOD: A questionnaire was mailed to 1325 nurses working at four hospitals in east and west Germany in 2002. Nine hundred and fifty nine nurses responded (response rate: 72.4%). RESULTS: Logistic regression identified three significant predictors of emotional exhaustion in nurses: workload (OR: 4.523, CI: 3.230-6.333) was positively associated with emotional exhaustion. Decision latitude (OR: 0.376, CI: 0.254-0.557) and social capital in the hospitals (OR: 0.549, CI: 0.403-0.746) were negatively associated with emotional exhaustion. Emotional exhaustion was not affected by age, sex, years of professional experience and job tenure. Nagelkerke's Pseudo R(2) was 0.225. CONCLUSIONS: The findings underline the importance of social capital and organisational development in hospital management. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Efforts to create a good working atmosphere with readiness to provide mutual support and the pursuit of joint values in a hospital, the reduction of workload and increased decision latitude may prevent the development of emotional exhaustion in nurses.
Authors: Heidi Janssens; Lutgart Braeckman; Peter Vlerick; Bart Van de Ven; Bart De Clercq; Els Clays Journal: Int Arch Occup Environ Health Date: 2018-07-17 Impact factor: 3.015
Authors: Brian A Primack; Jason B Colditz; Elan Cohen; Galen E Switzer; Georgeanna F W B Robinson; Deborah L Seltzer; Doris M Rubio; Wishwa N Kapoor Journal: Clin Transl Sci Date: 2013-10-03 Impact factor: 4.689
Authors: Philippe Kiss; Marc De Meester; Tage S Kristensen; Lutgart Braeckman Journal: Int Arch Occup Environ Health Date: 2014-03-01 Impact factor: 3.015
Authors: Ann Fridner; Alexandra Norell; Gertrud Åkesson; Marie Gustafsson Sendén; Lise Tevik Løvseth; Karin Schenck-Gustafsson Journal: BMC Med Educ Date: 2015-04-02 Impact factor: 2.463