Backgroundburnout syndrome is a significant problem in nursing professionals. Although, the unit where nurses work may influence burnout development. Nurses that work in primary care units may be at higher risk of burnout. The aim of the study was to estimate the prevalence of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and low personal accomplishment in primary care nurses.MethodsWe performed a meta-analysis. We searched Pubmed, CINAHL, Scopus, Scielo, Proquest, CUIDEN and LILACS databases up to September 2017 to identify cross-sectional studies assessing primary care nurses’ burnout with the Maslach Burnout Inventory were included. The search was done in September 2017.ResultsAfter the search process, n = 8 studies were included in the meta-analysis, representing a total sample of n = 1110 primary care nurses. High emotional exhaustion prevalence was 28% (95% Confidence Interval = 22–34%), high depersonalization was 15% (95% Confidence Interval = 9–23%) and 31% (95% Confidence Interval = 6–66%) for low personal accomplishment.ConclusionsProblems such as emotional exhaustion and low personal accomplishment are very common among primary care nurses, while depersonalization is less prevalent. Primary care nurses are a burnout risk group.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12875-018-0748-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

High emotional exhaustion is the main affected dimension of burnout in Primary Care nursing. There is heterogeneity in depersonalisation and personal accomplishment. Burnout must be prevented in these professionals, by increasing protective factors and monitoring its appearance in those with risk factors.

Nurses in primary health care (PHC) have multiple responsibilities but must often work with limited resources. The study’s aim was to estimate burnout levels among PHC nurses. A Quantitative, observational, cross-sectional, multicentre study of 338 nurses working in PHC in the Andalusian Public Health Service (Spain) is presented. A total of 40.24% of the nurses studied had high levels of burnout. The dimensions of emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation were significantly associated with anxiety, depression, neuroticism, on-call duty and seniority-profession and inversely related to agreeableness. In addition, depersonalisation was significantly associated with gender, and emotional exhaustion correlated inversely with age. Personal achievement was inversely associated with anxiety and depression and positively correlated with agreeableness, extraversion and responsibility. There is a high prevalence of burnout among nurses in PHC. Those most likely to suffer burnout syndrome are relatively young, suffer from anxiety and depression and present high scores for neuroticism and low ones for agreeableness, responsibility and extraversion.

Nursing is considered to be an at-risk profession of burnout due to daily exposure to difficult situations such as death and pain care. In addition, some units such as the intensive care unit (ICU), can be stressful due to high levels of morbidity and mortality and ethical dilemmas. Burnout causes a deterioration in quality of care, increasing the risk of mortality in patients due to poor performance and errors in the healthcare environment. The aim of this study was to analyse the levels, prevalence and related factors of burnout in ICU nurses. A systematic review and meta-analysis were carried out in the Medline, Scopus and CINAHL databases. Fifteen articles were found for the systematic review and four for the meta-analysis. With a sample of n = 1986 nurses, the meta-analytic estimate prevalence for high emotional exhaustion was 31% (95% CI, 8–59%), for high depersonalization was 18% (95% CI, 8–30%), and for low personal accomplishment was 46% (95% CI, 20–74%). Within the dimensions of burnout, emotional exhaustion had a significant relationship with depression and personality factors. Both sociodemographic factors (being younger, single marital status, and having less professional experience in ICU) and working conditions (workload and working longer hours) influence the risk of burnout syndrome.