Anxiety and level of burnout among nurses and i̇nfluencing factors

Hospitals are organizations that operate in a very important issue such as improving health, maintaining and saving human life. There are people in their focus. Nurses are one of the indispensable members of these health institutions, which are characterized by many stress factors and undertake an extremely important task such as protecting human health, saving and treating their lives. This occupational group with a high stress burden has a high level of burnout and anxiety. In this study, to determine the individual, organizational, and environmental stress factors that cause anxiety in nurses and to examine the effects of these factors on nursing practices; it is aimed to determine the levels of anxiety and burnout and to present solutions for this. The universe of our descriptive and cross-sectional study consisted of a total of 220 nurses working in a Private Foundation University hospitals serving in Istanbul between December 2018 and June 2019. The study was completed with 149 people who volunteered to participate in the study and met the sampling criteria. The data were obtained using Nurses Personal Information Form, Maslach Burnout Scale and State-Trait Anxiety Scale STAI I-II. The data were analyzed using statistical programs. The mean age of the participants was 28.2 ± 7.3, 82.6% were female (n = 123), 17.4% (n = 26) were male, 26.8% (n = 40) were married, 73.2% (n = 109) were single, 24.8% (n = 37) graduated from health vocational high school, 19.5% (n = 29) from associate degree, 55.7% (n = 83) from undergraduate and above schools. 41.6% (n = 62) of them stated that they spent their working hours in nursing care, 37.6% (n = 56) of them stated that they spent their working hours outside of nursing. 85.2% (n = 127) of them stated that they were not satisfied with the wages they received, 88.6% (n = 132) were satisfied with the team they worked with. 57.7% (n = 86) of them stated that application errors cause anxiety; 42.3% (n = 63) of them said that they organize social organizations and create financial reward systems to reduce anxiety and burnout. The average score the participants got from the scales; Emotional Exhaustion was found as 24.2 ± 6.3, Maslach Depersonalization 8.4 ± 3.3, Low Personal Achievement 32.1 ± 5.3, State Anxiety 3 9.2 ± 9.8, Trait Anxiety 41 ± 7.4. It was determined that the average Sensory Exhaustion score of the high school graduate participants was 21.3 ± 5.6, the median value of Low Personal Achievement score was 34, and there was a significant difference between the other groups (X2 = 7.1; p = 0.001; p <0.01) (F = 6.2; p = 0.04 p <0.05). The median value of the state anxiety score for participants working in internal units was 31 (Z = -2.6; p = 0.04; p <0.05); in the participants working in hematology oncology units, 46 (Z = -2.7; p = 0.006; p <0.05), the median value of trait anxiety score was 45 (Z = -2.3; p = 0.02; p <0.05). Participants working in these units have higher statehood and trait anxiety than other groups. The distribution of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and low personal achievement scores of more than half of the participants in our study is normal. Nurses who spend their shifts in non-nursing jobs have higher levels of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, statehood, and trait anxiety, so the authorities and responsibilities of nurses can be limited by their job descriptions. The wage policy can be corrected, considering that the participants are not satisfied with the wage they receive and their associated burnout has increased. People can be given a good orientation training when they start the institution, and various and all necessary rotations can be provided. Periodic therapies can be arranged to provide psychological support to nurses who care for chronic, severe, or terminal stage patients such as internal medicine, hematology, and oncology. This study can be done in different hospitals that are more comprehensive and independent from each other. Keywords: Nurses, Anxiety, Burnout