Burnout syndrome in nurses in an Intensive Care Unit

Objective: To identify if nurses working in cardiac and general Intensive Care Units are subject to burnout, correlating it with demographic and occupational information. Methods: This is a descriptive exploratory, cross-sectional, prospective and correlational study utilizing quantitative resources. The sample was composed of 34 nurses who answered the Maslach and Jackson inventory (MBI-HSS), which consists of 22 questions plus a questionnaire on demographic and occupational data. The study was carried out at a large private hospital in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Results: Of 34 nurses, nine had high emotional exhaustion, nine high depersonalization, ten had a high score of reduced professional accomplishment (decreased personal fulfillment at work). Most nurses presented alterations in more than one dimension regarding burnout. Conclusions: The majority of nurses presented burnout and there was a positive correlation between burnout and the variables: sex, advanced professional degrees, time working in nursing, workload and working at more than one hospital.