Examining the Relationship Between Alcohol Consumption and Burnout Among Nurses

Health professionals may be susceptible to misusing alcohol due to stress and burnout. This is especially true in states with high alcohol consumption. Health care organizations can implement evidence-based policies, programs, and solutions that identify, address, and help prevent adverse outcomes and burnout for health workers. Recommendations for health care professionals are learning to recognize signs of distress, mental challenges, and burnout. Staying connected and reaching out for help is a start to getting back to basic good health habits instead of developing unhealthy habits such as the misuse of alcohol consumption. However, misuse of alcohol consumption should be seen as an occupational hazard for health professionals i high-consumption communities.

A convenience sampling of nurses in one institution was surveyed online. Professional Quality of Life Questionnaire Health and Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) surveys were transcribed into RedCap and an invitation link was made available to registered nurses and graduate students through internal announcements.

Eighty-two nurses completed the survey. This study found a medium association between burnout scores and AUDIT scores (η = 0.506). Our study showed a rate of 26.5% on the Pro-QOL Health secondary trauma subscale scores, with a small association (η = 0.304) between secondary trauma scores and AUDIT scores.

One call to action is to further coordinate research to develop tools assessing nurses on a regular basis. In communities where drinking is known to be high, misuse among health professionals should be viewed as an occupational hazard. To support nurses, we must continue to examine predictors of substance misuse at regular intervals in the work environment. Inclusive research examining and analyzing the use of alcohol by ethnicity, gender, age, and community setting is important in developing culturally appropriate interventions.