Burnout among Nurses Working in Surgery and Internal Wards at Selected Hospitals of Ahvaz

Psychological tensions and job exhaustion can have a negative impact on professional satisfaction and patients caring. The present study is aimed at examining and comparing career exhaustion among nurses working in surgery and internal wards. This is a descriptive study. The questionnaires concerning demographic information were distributed anonymously among 61 nurses working in surgery and internal wards of two hospitals in Ahvaz in the period of July 2008 to Sep 2008. The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) was used to measure the burnout. The data was analyzed by SPSS and Chi-squared test, T-test and Analysis of variance (ANOVA) (p<0.05). The burnout criterion was observed in 24.5% of the sample. Based on the burnout inventory grades in different wards, burnout in surgery ward is higher than internal ward and showing a significant difference. In this study, a high degree of emotional exhaustion was observed among 45.9%, and a high degree of personal inefficacy among 70.4%, and a high degree of depersonalization among 40.9% of the nurses. Regarding the high psychological pressures on the nurses, managers should pay more attention to their professional satisfaction, especially for those working at wards with high amount of work and more burnout. The managers should reduce the psychological pressures by planning appropriately, reducing the amount of the work, and optimizing the workplace environment.