Related Experiment Videos
Nurse burnout and patient satisfaction
Doris C Vahey1, Linda H Aiken, Douglas M Sloane
1Mount Sinai Medical Center, Department of Nursing, New York, NY, USA. dvahey@nursing.upenn.edu
Medical Care
|January 22, 2004
Summary
Improving the hospital nurse work environment reduces nurse burnout and boosts patient satisfaction. Better nurse work conditions lead to higher patient satisfaction and lower nurse turnover, benefiting both nurses and patients.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare Management
- Nursing Research
- Patient Outcomes
Background:
- A national nurse shortage raises concerns about nurse burnout impacting patient care.
- High levels of nurse burnout may negatively affect patient outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- Examine the influence of the nurse work environment on nurse burnout.
- Investigate the combined effects of the nurse work environment and burnout on patient satisfaction with nursing care.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional surveys of 820 nurses and 621 patients across 40 units in 20 urban hospitals.
- Nurses' practice environments assessed using the revised Nursing Work Index (NWI-R).
- Nurse burnout measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI); patient satisfaction by the La Monica-Oberst Patient Satisfaction Scale (LOPSS).
Main Results:
- Patients on units with adequate staffing, administrative support, and positive doctor-nurse relations reported more than double the satisfaction.
- These positive work environments correlated with significantly lower nurse burnout.
- Overall nurse burnout levels on hospital units also impacted patient satisfaction.
Conclusions:
- Enhancing hospital nurse work environments can decrease nurse burnout and turnover.
- Improvements in the work environment are linked to increased patient satisfaction with care.