The relationship between inpatient nurse burnout and safety outcomes in a teaching hospital, Thailand

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the level of burnout in nurse and the association between burnout and safety outcomes from self-reports and system reports, including medication errors and sharp injuries. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 1,464 inpatient nurses at a teaching hospital. Nurses who have been working for a year or more in 71 wards were invited. The data collection was conducted from July to August 2020. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect on demographic data, Maslach Burnout Inventory questionnaire, and safety outcomes. The system reported safety outcomes were obtained from the hospital incident occurrence report (IOR) system. Mixed effect logistic regression and negative binomial regression model were used to explore the association between inpatient nurse burnout and the self-reported and IOR outcomes. There were 702 inpatient nurses from 68 inpatient wards participated. None of the nurses had burnout syndrome according to the World Health Organization definition. For burnout dimensions, 27% of nurses reported high emotional exhaustion, 13% reported high depersonalization, and only one nurse reported low personal accomplishment. There were 192 and 39 inpatient nurses reported incidence of medication errors and sharp injuries, respectively; whereas, from the IOR report, there were 329 medication errors and 51 sharp injuries. High emotional exhaustion dimension was significantly associated with self-reported medication errors (ORadj 1.90, 95%CI [1.1-3.2]) and self-reported sharp injuries (ORadj 3.12, 95%CI [1.2-7.9]). In addition, for each score increase in emotional exhaustion, the rate of reporting sharp injuries increased by 15% (p < .05). IMPLICATION OF THESIS. The relationship between burnout and adverse outcomes is well established in several studies. Our findings indicated that emotional exhaustion dimension of burnout is prevalent among inpatient nurses in a teaching hospital and has a significant impact on patient and personnel safety. Identification nurses with emotional exhaustion and provision of support should be considered as a part of policies to improve safety outcome in the healthcare services.