Abstract

Background: Burnout in ED nurses is well-documented and associated with feelings of irritability, fatigue, and cynicism as well as poor patient satisfaction scores. Educational interventions have been found to improve nurse resiliency and reduce burnout. The purpose of the study was to determine if a ninety minute voluntary resiliency educational intervention for emergency nurses will reduce nurse burnout and improve emergency department patient satisfaction.

Methods: We conducted a quasi-experimental study to determine effectiveness of an educational intervention for nurse burnout using the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory. Burnout levels were measured prior to and after the delivery of the educational intervention. One hundred and fourteen emergency nurses were invited to participate. Patient satisfaction mean scores for the Emergency Department were monitored in the Press Ganey database prior to, during and after the intervention, to determine if an improvement in nurse burnout scores is associated with an improvement in patient satisfaction.

Results: Of the 114 emergency department nurses invited to participate, 45 responded to the Pre-Survey. Twenty-one nurses attended the education, however, a total of 31 nurses responded to the Post-Survey. Of these, only 13 nurses attended the education and responded to the post-survey and thus were included in the post-intervention data analysis. Statistical analysis for burnout level was carried out using t-test. The results showed there was a generalized decrease in burn-out scores after the education (M = 37.65, SD = 20.78) compared to before (M = 46.06, SD = 20.89); however, this difference was not statistically significant, t (56) = -1.28, p = .1024. There was no improvement in patient satisfaction.

Conclusion/Recommendations: Although our study did not yield statistically significant results, it did show a decrease in overall burnout scores. Nurses are reluctant to identify themselves as ‘burned out’ and in need of an educational remedy. Removing the necessity of attending the live class by providing a private online option may mitigate the concern. This strategy has the potential to increase ED nurse participation and allow the administration of a post survey to determine if a decrease in burnout is associated with the educational intervention.

Publication Date

10-25-2019

Presented At:

14th Annual BHSF Research Conference

Content Type

Poster

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