Burnout syndrome and sleep quality in nurses

Burnout syndrome is complex and causes a great diversity of physical, psychic, and cognitive symptoms.

To identify a possible relationship between burnout syndrome and sleep quality of nursing professionals. Methods: Forty-seven nurses working at Hospital Universitário do Oeste do Paraná, from the three shifts, were analyzed. Burnout syndrome was evaluated using the Maslach Burnout Inventory questionnaire, and sleep quality was evaluated using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Statistical analysis was performed with the Mann-Whitney Test and the Spearman's correlation coefficient.

Only three nurses (6.00%) met burnout criteria, but 59.57% had high scores for emotional exhaustion. In relation to sleep quality, eight (17.00%) presented good sleep quality. The correlation between sleep quality and burnout syndrome was significant in the emotional exhaustion dimension (p = 0.0244), being strongly linked to poor sleep quality. There were no differences between working the day and night shifts and the quality of sleep. But when analyzing different sectors, there was a predominance of emergency room + intensive care unit in the presentation of bad dreams or nightmares (p = 0.012).

Sleep alterations were observed in a large portion of the sample, and a high number of individuals presented high levels of emotional exhaustion.