title: Determinants and prevalence of burnout in emergency nurses: a systematic review of 25 years of research.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Burnout is an important problem in health care professionals and is associated with a decrease in occupational well-being and an increase in absenteeism, turnover and illness. Nurses are found to be vulnerable to burnout, but emergency nurses are even more so, since emergency nursing is characterized by unpredictability, overcrowding and continuous confrontation with a broad range of diseases, injuries and traumatic events.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This systematic review aims (1) to explore the prevalence of burnout in emergency nurses and (2) to identify specific (individual and work related) determinants of burnout in this population.
  
  
  METHODS
  A systematic review of empirical quantitative studies on burnout in emergency nurses, published in English between 1989 and 2014.
  
  
  METHODS
  The databases NCBI PubMed, Embase, ISI Web of Knowledge, Informa HealthCare, Picarta, Cinahl and Scielo were searched.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventeen studies were included in this review. On average 26% of the emergency nurses suffered from burnout. Individual factors such as demographic variables, personality characteristics and coping strategies were predictive of burnout. Work related factors such as exposure to traumatic events, job characteristics and organizational variables were also found to be determinants of burnout in this population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Burnout rates in emergency nurses are high. Job demands, job control, social support and exposure to traumatic events are determinants of burnout, as well as several organizational variables. As a consequence specific action targets for hospital management are formulated to prevent turnover and burnout in emergency nurses.
authors.affiliation: Leiden University, Institute of Psychology Health Psychology, PO Box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, The Netherlands. Electronic address: j.adriaenssens@umail.leidenuniv.nl.
authors.forename: Jef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Adriaenssens
authors.affiliation: Leiden University, Institute of Psychology Health Psychology, 2300 RB Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Véronique
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: De Gucht
authors.affiliation: Leiden University, Institute of Psychology and Leiden University Medical Center Health Psychology, 2300 RB Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Stan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maes
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016529:Emergency Nursing; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence
keywords: Burnout; Emergency nursing; Literature review; Occupational stress; Work characteristics