Burnout: results of an empirical study of New Zealand nurses

Burnout is conceptualised as a syndrome consisting of three components-emotional exhaustion, reduced personal accomplishment and depersonalisation of clients or patients that occurs in individuals who work in the human service professions, particularly nursing. It has been observed that nurses are at a high risk of burnout and burnout has been described as the 'professional cancer' of nursing. This is the first New Zealand study to use the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and the Phase Model of Burnout to determine the extent and severity of burnout in a population of 1134 nurses. Results revealed an overall 'low to average' level of burnout, suggesting that New Zealand nurses, apart from those in the 41-45 age group, are doing better than expected insofar as they are managing to avoid or not progress to the advanced phases of burnout. Possible explanations and directions for future research are presented.