Burnout and Career Calling Profiles Among Nurses: Associations With Nursing Work Environment and Missed Nursing Care

Nurses are highly prone to burnout due to high pressure, heavy workloads, and emotional labor. Career calling has been associated with lower levels of burnout, but variable-centered studies have overlooked heterogeneous subgroups among nurses.

This person-centered study used latent profile analysis to jointly examine career calling and burnout, identify burnout-career calling profiles, and explore factors associated with these profiles and their associations with self-reported missed nursing care.

A cross-sectional study was conducted from March to September 2025 among 524 nurses. Participants completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory, Career Calling Scale, Nursing Work Environment Scale, and Missed Nursing Care Scale online. Latent profile analysis was applied.

Three profiles emerged: "Low Burnout-High Career Calling" (49.6%), "Reduced Personal Accomplishment" (37.8%), and "High Burnout-Low Career Calling" (12.6%). Age, educational level, professional title, and nursing work environment were associated with profile membership. Nurses in the "High Burnout-Low Career Calling" profile reported the highest level of missed nursing care, followed by those in the "Reduced Personal Accomplishment" profile, whereas those in the "Low Burnout-High Career Calling" profile showed the lowest level.

This study identified three burnout-career calling profiles among nurses and examined their associated factors and differences in self-reported missed nursing care.

Nursing managers could provide tailored support for the three burnout-career calling profiles at both organizational and individual levels, including creating a supportive work environment and offering psychological support. Future research could examine whether such tailored support may help reduce missed nursing care.