Nurse burnout and patient satisfaction.
BACKGROUND
Amid a national nurse shortage, there is growing concern that high levels of nurse burnout could adversely affect patient outcomes.


OBJECTIVE
This study examines the effect of the nurse work environment on nurse burnout, and the effects of the nurse work environment and nurse burnout on patients' satisfaction with their nursing care. RESEARCH DESIGN/SUBJECTS: We conducted cross-sectional surveys of nurses (N=820) and patients (N=621) from 40 units in 20 urban hospitals across the United States.


METHODS
Nurse surveys included measures of nurses' practice environments derived from the revised Nursing Work Index (NWI-R) and nurse outcomes measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and intentions to leave. Patients were interviewed about their satisfaction with nursing care using the La Monica-Oberst Patient Satisfaction Scale (LOPSS).


RESULTS
Patients cared for on units that nurses characterized as having adequate staff, good administrative support for nursing care, and good relations between doctors and nurses were more than twice likely as other patients to report high satisfaction with their care, and their nurses reported significantly lower burnout. The overall level of nurse burnout on hospital units also affected patient satisfaction.


CONCLUSIONS
Improvements in nurses' work environments in hospitals have the potential to simultaneously reduce nurses' high levels of job burnout and risk of turnover and increase patients' satisfaction with their care.
Vahey
Doris C
DC
Mount Sinai Medical Center, Department of Nursing, New York, NY, USA. dvahey@nursing.upenn.edu
Aiken
Linda H
LH
Sloane
Douglas M
DM
Clarke
Sean P
SP
Vargas
Delfino
D
D000328:Adult; D002055:Burnout, Professional; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D015401:Nursing Administration Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology* / Q000600:supply & distribution; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D016526:Workload / Q000523:psychology