Burnout Syndrome of Health Professionals in Renal Units

Introduction: The first description of the Burnout Syndrome was reported by Freudenberger (1974) who recorded the symptoms of physical and emotional burnout, not only in nursing staff but in other professionals as well. Aim: The aim of the present study was to assess the degree of job burnout of nursing staff and assistant nurses working in renal units in NE Greece and to investigate the influence of age and sex on job burnout. Method: The sample consisted of one hundred nurses and assistant nurses from three public renal units of the 4th Health Region of NE Greece. More specifically, from the General Hospital (GH) of Kavala, the GH of Xanthi and the GH of Komotini. The participants were 74 women (74%) and 26 men (26%) and the study was conducted from November 2010 to January 2011. All the participants completed a questionnaire that aimed at job burnout syndrome evaluation. The questionnaire consisted of two sections. The first section was referring to burn out syndrome and included the Inventory of Burnout of Maslach and Jackson questionnaire (MBI), which evaluates the following three factors: “emotional exhaustion”, “depersonalization” and “personal achievements”. The second section included seven demographic questions. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS16.0. The reliability coefficient factor (Cronbach’s alpha) for “emotional exhaustion” was estimated as α= 0.70, for “depersonalization” was α=0.61 and for “personal achievements” was α=0.67 respectively. Results: The results showed moderate levels of job burnout with a mean score(±SD) of 25(±13.2) for “emotional exhaustion”, 7.5(±6.0) for “depersonalization” and 31(±8.1) for “personal achievement”. MBI score didn’t correlate with gender. However, the age was correlated with “depersonalization” factor (F=3.23, p=0.04). Cοnclusions: Burnout syndrome levels in nurses and assistant nurses working in renal units are moderate. The early recognition of professional burnout syndrome and the application of the appropriate precautionary measures are necessary for its prevention and repercussions restriction in the hospital care.