Abstract
BackgroundStudies suggest a high prevalence of burnout among nurses. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between burnout among nurses and absenteeism and work performance.MethodsA national sample of U.S. nurses was sent an anonymous, cross-sectional survey in 2016. The survey included items about demographics, fatigue, and validated instruments to measure burnout, absenteeism, and poor work performance in the last month.ResultsOf the 3098 nurses who received the survey, 812 (26.2%) responded. The mean age was 52.3 years (SD 12.5), nearly all were women (94.5%) and most were married (61.9%) and had a child (75.2%). Participating nurses had a mean of 25.7 (SD 13.9) years of experience working as nurse and most held a baccalaureate (38.2%) or masters of science (37.1%) degree in nursing. A quarter worked in the inpatient setting (25.5%) and the average hours worked per week was 41.3 (SD 14.1). Overall, 35.3% had symptoms of burnout, 30.7% had symptoms of depression, 8.3% had been absent 1 or more days in the last month due to personal health, and 43.8% had poor work performance in the last month. Nurses who had burnout were more likely to have been absent 1 or more days in the last month (OR 1.85, 95% CI 1.25–2.72) and have poor work performance (referent: high performer; medium performer, OR 2.68,95% CI 1.82–3.99; poor performer, OR 5.01, 95% CI 3.09–8.14). After adjusting for age, sex, relationship and parental status, highest academic degree, practice setting, burnout, depression, and satisfaction with work-life integration, nurses who were more fatigued (for each point worsening, OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.10–1.37) were more likely to have had absenteeism while those who worked more hours (for each additional hour OR 0.98, 95% CI 0.96–1.00) were less likely to have had absenteeism. Factors independently associated with poor work performance included burnout (OR 2.15, 95% CI 1.43–3.24) and fatigue (for each point of worsening, OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.12–1.33).ConclusionsThese findings suggest burnout is prevalent among nurses and likely impacts work performance.
Highlights
Studies suggest a high prevalence of burnout among nurses
In the second study of 258 nurses working in the Netherlands, a bi-directional relationship was found between burnout and presenteeism [33]
We identified another study of 404 nurses working in an institution for people with learning difficulties where the emotional exhaustion domain of burnout was associated with higher self-reported absenteeism [34], and in a 1989 study of 106 nurses working in long-stay settings, emotional exhaustion predicted absences in the subsequent 12 months [35]
Summary
Studies suggest a high prevalence of burnout among nurses. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between burnout among nurses and absenteeism and work performance. Professional burnout [1] is alarmingly prevalent among U.S nurses with studies reporting rates of 35– 45% [2,3,4,5,6,7]. Few studies have examined the potential impact of nurse burnout on absenteeism and work performance [29]. One study of 73 registered nurses reported that higher levels of burnout were associated with worse supervisor rated job performance and more self-reported absences [32]. Important limitations of previous studies, include being conducted more than a decade ago or outside the U.S, having small sample sizes of nurses from a single specialty or practice setting, using only the emotional exhaustion domain of burnout, or being unable to account for potential confounding factors such as mood disorders and fatigue [32,33,34,35]
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