Interactive effects of nurse-experienced time pressure and burnout on patient safety: a cross-sectional survey

Global nursing shortages have exacerbated time pressure and burnout among nurses. Despite the well-established correlation between burnout and patient safety, no studies have addressed how time pressure among nurses and patient safety are related and whether burnout moderates such a relation.

This study investigated how time pressure and the interaction of time pressure and nursing burnout affect patient safety. DESIGN-SETTING PARTICIPANTS: This cross-sectional study surveyed 458 nurses in 90 units of two medical centres in northern Taiwan.

Nursing burnout was measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Service Scale. Patient safety was inversely measured by six items on frequency of adverse events. Time pressure was measured by five items. Regressions were used for the analysis.

While the results of regression analyses suggest that time pressure did not significantly affect patient safety (beta=-.01, p>.05), time pressure and burnout had an interactive effect on patient safety (beta=-.08, p<.05). Specifically, for nurses with high burnout (n=223), time pressure was negatively related to patient safety (beta=-.10, p<.05).

Time pressure adversely affected patient safety for nurses with a high level of burnout, but not for nurses with a low level of burnout.