Aim To describe burnout and factors affecting it in nursing staff. Background Burnout is a common phenomenon in nursing staff. We need knowledge of phenomena related to burnout in order to be able to properly direct measures decreasing burnout. Methods A questionnaire measuring burnout was answered by 723 nurses. The data were analysed by means of descriptive statistics and anova. Results Half of the staff had scores which indicated they were frustrated or burnt out. Personal resource variables having an influence on staff burnout were age, vocational education and years of practice. Burnout increases with age, and staff with short work experience in nursing practice experience lower levels of burnout. Staff with a secondary level education working on psychiatric wards experience especially high levels of burnout. Continuous professional education is related to lower levels of burnout if it lasts for more than 10 days over a period of 2 years. Conclusions The results of the study can be generalized only to these two Finnish hospitals. The results indicate that education, both vocational basic education and professional further education, are key factors in preventing burnout among nursing staff.

Nurses' exhaustion should be reduced in order to improve quality of care.