Study: Burnout, resiliency in new graduate nurses

Editor's Note

This study by nurse researchers at the University of Florida, Gainesville, examines the factors contributing to burnout and resiliency in new graduate nurses, who are at a high risk of turnover in the first year of employment.

A total of 43 new graduate nurses from three hospital campuses were surveyed.

Nurses with less than 1 year of experience reported “normal resiliency” overall (average resiliency score of 3.5, per the Brief Resilience Scale).

They also reported moderate levels of burnout (average burnout score of 58.5 across all subscales of the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory); however, higher levels were reported in personal (ie, the degree of physical and psychological fatigue and exhaustion experienced by a person) and work-related (ie, the degree of fatigue and exhaustion perceived by the person as related to work) subgroups. Higher burnout scores were significantly associated with low job satisfaction and intent to leave within 1 year

There were no statistically significant associations found between burnout or resiliency and variables, such as caring for COVID-19 patients, age, gender, type of unit, type of nursing degree, shift worked, completion of certificate, or number of hours worked per week.

The researchers concluded that strategies to reduce burnout and increase resiliency in nurses with less than 1 year of experience should be focused on improving personal and work-related burnout.