Understanding how professional well-being has been conceived and studied in nursing: A critical literature review

National policymakers have called for research that better conceptualizes and operationalizes elements of professional well-being as a path toward solving the burnout crisis.

To systematically examine how professional well-being has been conceived and studied in the nursing research literature.

Critical literature review of existing nursing research focused on professional well-being using the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's (NASEM) 2019 Systems Model of Clinician Burnout and Professional Well-being as deductive analytic framework.

Nine research studies were included. The research was of low quality, precluding generalizable statistical findings. Deductive coding identified interactions between individual and work system factors that characterized professional well-being at the frontlines of care.

Professional well-being aligned most consistently with the Maslach Burnout Inventory Personal Accomplishment subscale. Second, nearly all Personal Acccomplishment coding co-occurred with two specific NASEM work system factors, "facilitating interprofessional teamwork," and "enhancing meaning and purpose in work."