Study: Stronger sense of mission reduces burnout, turnover risk among perioperative nurses

Editor's Note

Perioperative nurses who feel a stronger sense of professional mission are less likely to experience burnout and less likely to want to leave their jobs, according to a large cross-sectional study published on March 21 by BMC Psychology. The study identifies professional mission as a key psychological resource that indirectly reduces turnover intention through two major pathways: stronger professional identity and lower job burnout.

Researchers surveyed 744 OR nurses across 12 hospitals in Shandong Province, China, using validated scales to measure professional mission, professional identity, job burnout, and turnover intention. Using a structural equation model, they tested a chain mediation model grounded in the Job Demands-Resources Model and the Mission-Oriented Career Model.

Key findings include:

• Professional mission was positively associated with professional identity (β = 0.670, P < 0.001), and negatively associated with both job burnout (β = -0.425, P < 0.001) and turnover intention (β = -0.221, P < 0.001).
• Professional identity negatively predicted job burnout (β = -0.186, P < 0.001) and turnover intention (β = -0.109, P < 0.001).
• Job burnout was a strong positive predictor of turnover intention (β = 0.335, P < 0.05).

Mediation analysis revealed that 53.7% of the total effect of professional mission on turnover intention was indirect. Professional identity alone mediated 28.7% of the effect, while job burnout alone mediated 55.2%. A sequential pathway—in which professional mission enhanced professional identity, which then reduced burnout—accounted for 16.1% of the total mediation effect.

These results suggest that intrinsic factors, such as a nurse’s internal motivation and sense of purpose, are just as critical for workforce retention as external job conditions, researchers write. Although the study was limited by its regional scope and cross-sectional design, it provides strong support for interventions that build meaning, purpose, and support into perioperative nurses’ daily work.