The relationship of burnout with role conflict and role ambiguity in physicians and nurses: Sample of a university hospital.

Health professionals have a high risk of experiencing role conflict, role ambiguity and burnout, due to the framework of the hospital organization and structure of their work. In organizations, role conflict and role ambiguity may lead to job stress and job stress may lead to burnout in the long term. Regardingly, the aim of this study thesis is to identify the level of burnout and perceived role conflict and ambiguity of the physicians and nurses working at a University hospital and to determine the correlation between these items.The sample of this research is constituted of the physicians and nurses working at a University hospital. The questionnaire which is prepared for the research is composed of `Maslach?s Burnout Inventory?, `Role Conflict And Role Ambiguity Scales? and `Sociodemographic Data?. The data was analyzed for the means, standart deviation, frequency, percentage distribution, t test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffe test, chi-square test, Pearson?s correlation and multiple linear regression by using the SPSS 15.0 statistical software. According to the results, all nurses and subjects under 34 years old experienced burnout in all three subscales, whereas subjects who were at the beginning of their career showed burnout in emotional exhaustion subscale, singles, subjects who had no children and who thought they had inadequate work performance showed burnout in both emotional exhaustion and depersonalization subscales; women showed burnout in both emotional exhaustion and low personal accomplishment subscales, high school and higher education graduates showed burnout in low personal accomplishment subscale more than the others. Postdoctoral graduates, subjects who work less than 8 hours per day and subjects who had choosen their profession by themselves experienced less burnout in emotional exhaustion subscale compared to the others. Additionally, nurses experienced more role conflict and role ambiguity compared to the physicians. In Pearson?s correlation analysis, we found a positive and significant correlation inside the Maslach?s Burnout Inventory and between the Role Conflict And Role Ambiguity Scales (p<0.01). Multiple regression analysis showed that, a change in role conflict and role ambiguity may help to explain emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and low personal accomplishment.