Relationship between burnout and patient safety attitudes in pediatric nurses in a hospital in Turkey

Burnout can affect nurses' patient safety-related attitudes due to adverse conditions it creates in nurses and can lead to medical errors. The purpose of this research is to determine the relationship between the patient safety attitudes and pediatric nurses' burnout.

Observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study, carried out between January and July 2016 at Ege University Children's Hospital in İzmir (Turkey). Data was collected using the Sociodemographic Characteristics Questionnaire, the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Patient Safety Attitude Questionnaire. The data was analysed with the program SPSS. Permission was obtained from the corresponding Ethical Committee.

The response rate was 60%, with a total of 104 participants. Emotional exhaustion was identified in more than half of the participating nurses, with a negative correlation between the attitude towards patient safety and emotional exhaustion. A positive correlation was found between the scores of the Patient Safety Attitude Questionnaire and the scores of the Personal achievement subscale. It was found that the emotional exhaustion score increased as the patient's safety attitude decreased. It was also found that Personal Achievement subscale scores and safety attitude scores of the patient increased.

There is a relationship between the levels of emotional exhaustion of nurses and a decrease in attitudes towards safety, at the same time as personal achievement helps to improve the attitude towards patient safety.