The Impact of Burnout in Emergency Department Nurses and Intent to Leave Employment

Purpose: : The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between burnout in emergency department nurses and intent to leave employment.

Design: : This study used a descriptive correlational research design. In this study, an anonymous on-line survey was used to explore the relationships between personal characteristics, professional characteristics, burnout, and intent to leave current employment

Setting:: An anonymous survey link was distributed to nurses currently working in the ED using social media, MTurk, and a level II trauma center in Northern, Virginia.

Sample:: Registered nurses of all ages and genders currently working in the ED within the United States were eligible to participate in the anonymous online survey. Nurses who did not meet inclusion criteria or chose not to complete the survey were excluded. Incomplete surveys were also excluded.

Methods: : This descriptive correlational research study used a single survey. The survey included demographic questions on personal and professional characteristics, the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey for Medical Personnel (MBI-HSS-MP) to assess participant’s degree of burnout, and the Turnover Intention Scale (TIS-6) to measure the extent to which an employee intends to leave their place of employment.

Results: : When controlling for predictor variables, years of experience, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization significantly influenced ED nurses’ intent to leave employment. Respondents with 5+ years of experience had almost 2 times the odds of leaving. Likewise, respondents with emotional exhaustion and depersonalization scores above the median had almost 2 times the odds of leaving.

Implications:: Operationally, these findings signify the risk for losing experienced staff and being left with novice staff to manage patient care in the ED. Nurse leaders may want to focus on and closely examine the components of the emotional exhaustion and depersonalization scales to better support staff and mitigate feelings of burnout and intent to leave employment.