Burnout levels and individual and organizational performances in Italian nurses: an investigatory study

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Burnout syndrome negatively affected the individual’s social, physical and psychological life and it might be associated to overthrowing ethics, impaired work realization, work absence and inappropriate communication with patients, and a large number of job variations. The aim of the present study was to assess how burnout syndrome influenced both individual and organizational nursing performances according to sex and work experience.METHODS: An on-line questionnaire explored: demographic characteristics, as: sex, age and years of work experience, burnout levels among participants, individual and the organizational nursing work performances.RESULTS: Significant differences between burnout sub-dimensions and items belonging to the Nursing Individual Work Performance Questionnaire (P<0.05) and the organizational performance (P<0.05).CONCLUSIONS: This study highlighted how both individual and organizational nursing performances were strongly influenced by burnout levels. Therefore, the issue of burnout was important as a research priority and further studies will be desirable to evaluate the uniqueness of impact of different factors on burnout, since the literature suggested the importance that nurses might become aware of their own sources of exhaustion of their work.