Burnout among nurses working in critical care settings: a case of a selected tertiary hospital in Rwanda

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONBurnout is characterized by loss of emotional strength, not valuing human beings living together with or offering service and decreased in job performance and success due to lack of interest related to occupational stressors.1Burnout was recognized as work related danger among human oriented professionals including health care professionals since they are required to work many hours to help humans and face a challenge of high demand and low resources.1 Burnout is due to prolonged work related stress that is not managed. In a work environment this leads to high worker turnover, absenteeism, compromise of interpersonal relationships, reduced productivity and low personal achievement. 2High level of burnout was identified among nurses working in ICU (Intensive Care Unit) and Emergency Department. A systematic review on burnout among ICU health professionals found the prevalence to range from 6% to 47%. 3 Moreover, this systematic review found the following risk factors: age, gender, work experience, ABSTRACT Background: Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Emergency Department are more stressful areas therefore nurses in those areas are prone to high level of burnout than others. In Rwanda, studies on burnout among nurses are limited and there is no research targeting specifically nurses working in ICU and Emergency Department. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the level of burnout among nurses working in ICU and Emergency Department in a selected referral hospital of Kigali. Methods: A quantitative approach was adopted. The descriptive cross-sectional design was used. Sixty nurses were involved in the study and they were selected using a total population sampling strategy. A self-administered questionnaire and Maslach Burnout Inventory Human Service Survey were used to collect data. Data were analysed using SPSS version 21.0. Results: The study found high level of burnout among 61.7% of the participants under study. High workload and intention to leave were associated with burnout (P<0.05). Burnout was measured by high Emotional Exhaustion (EE) 29 (48.3%), high Depersonalization (DP) 15 (25%) and low Personal Accomplishment (PA) 30 (50%). Conclusions: The high level of burnout identified among ICU and emergency department nurses is mainly associated with high workload and intention to leave the work within the next 12 months.

Assessment of the Burnout Level in Health Care Worker During COVD 19

“…The majority of the participants (25.7 %) with diploma in nursing were found to have high level of burnout, The reason may be due to the health policy in hospitals, where the diploma level is the weakest part of the group. Therefore, the level of burnout is high this result agree with study conducted in Iran in 2017 entitled ( Burnout among nurses working in critical care settings: a case of a selected tertiary hospital in Rwanda) (18) .…”

“…Most of the participants were male, and this indicates that these results differ from many of the studies that were conducted, which showed that the percentage of females is more than males, this agree with the study conducted in 2013 by Ayala and Carnero (17) . This study found that there is a high rate of burnout in the health care workers during the COVID 19 pandemic this agree with (18) The reason may be a lack of experience in dealing with such an epidemic, as well as a lack of personal equipment to deal directly contact with COVID19 patients.…”

Assessment of the Burnout Level in Health Care Worker During COVD 19

“…Most of the participants were male, and this indicates that these results differ from many of the studies that were conducted, which showed that the percentage of females is more than males, this agree with the study conducted in 2013 by Ayala and Carnero (17) . This study found that high level of burnout among health workers during the COVID 19 pandemic this agree with (18) The reason may be a lack of experience in dealing with such an epidemic, as well as a lack of personal equipment to deal directly contact with COVID19 patients.…”

Workplace Stressors and Coping Strategies of Intensive Care Unit Nurses at University Teaching Hospitals, in Rwanda

“…[8] Furthermore, workplace stress can lead to poor quality of nursing care, which may negatively impact the patients' outcomes. [9] Moreover, when workplace stress is not well controlled, it can negatively affect the institution by impairing the normal daily activities , decreasing productivity, increasing absenteeism and turnover among the employees; this information, shows the urgency of exploring the possible causes of job stress and coping strategies. [1] The coping strategies to curb the workplace stress are identified in the literature; the common coping strategy that are applied by the ICU nurses to control the workplace stress are recreation activities.…”