[Emergency nursing: "I want to leave my unit... I'm burning"?]

To determine whether the intent of career mobility is associated with the frequency of job stressors and burnout syndrome experienced by emergency nurses.

to assess perceived frequency of job stressors and burnout syndrome prevalence and its possible association with demographic and occupational values of the sample analyzed.

We performed a cross-sectional study. We used a survey of sociodemographic and occupational variables, and two validated questionnaires: the "Nursing Stress Scale" validated by Escriba et al. (1999) and the Inventory to assess Burnout Syndrome (MBI-GS, Schaufeli et al., 1996).

The total Stress score mean was 32.88 +/- 12.67. There was a Burnout prevalence of 2.34%, while 23.4% of the sample expressed high levels of cynicism/depersonalization. The frequency of job stressors was significantly associated with burnout syndrome dimensions. The frequency of stressors and intention of career mobility were significant predictors of emotional exhaustion and cynicism, while the fixed night shift was associated with lower professional efficacy.

This study shows a moderate frequency of job stressors in the unit analyzed, and a low prevalence of Burnout Syndrome. The intention to leave or career mobility is an important predictor of burnout process, so it should be something to take into account by human resource managers, in order to prevent the development of the burnout process in health organizations.