Relationship between perceived time pressure during visits and burnout among home visiting nurses in Japan

The rapidly rising number of older people has inevitably caused an increasing demand for home visiting nurses. Nursing managers must develop a healthy workplace to recruit and retain a workforce of nurses. This study focused on home visiting nurses' perceptions of time pressure as a changeable work demand. The aim was to investigate perceptions of time pressure and reveal the relationship between perceived time pressure and burnout among home visiting nurses.

From 32 agencies in three districts, 28 home visiting nurses agreed to participate in this study. Two hundred and eight home visiting nurses received an anonymous self-administered questionnaire by mail, and 177 (85.1%) filled out and returned the questionnaire to the researchers. The Job Demands-Resources model for burnout, which explains the relationship between a work environment and employee well-being, was used as a conceptual guide. Three survey instruments were employed: questions on sociodemographic variables and worksite environments, including time pressure; the Japanese burnout inventory; and a Japanese version of the job content questionnaire. Multiple regression analyses were performed to examine the relationships between time pressure and burnout inventory scores.

About 30% of home visiting nurses perceived time pressure frequently. When home visiting nurses perceived time pressure more frequently, they experienced higher emotional exhaustion and depersonalization.

Time pressure was often perceived as another job demand and had a significant relationship with burnout. This indicates the importance of lessening time pressure to develop healthy work places for community health nurses.