Relationship between job burnout, psychosocial factors and health care-associated infections in critical care units

• Published in: Intensive & critical care nursing 2016-06, Vol.34, p.59-66
• Main Authors: Galletta, Maura, Portoghese, Igor, D’Aloja, Ernesto, Mereu, Alessandra, Contu, Paolo, Coppola, Rosa Cristina, Finco, Gabriele, Campagna, Marcello
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Burnout; Burnout, Professional - complications; Burnout, Professional - psychology; Communication; Critical care; Critical care units; Cross Infection - nursing; Cross Infection - prevention & control; Cynicism; Efficacy; Fatigue; Female; Funding; Health care; Health professional-Patient communication; Health professionals; Hospital infections; Hospitals; Humans; Incidence; Infection; Infections; Intensive care; Intensive care units; Intensive Care Units - organization & administration; Job burnout; Job Satisfaction; Male; Middle Aged; Mortality; Nurses - psychology; Nurses - standards; Nursing; Occupational stress; Patient care; Patients; Psychosocial factors; Psychosocial variables; Quality; Safety; Service provision; Stress, Psychological - etiology; Studies; Surveys and Questionnaires; Team communication; Team efficacy; Team work; Technology; Wellbeing; Workers
• ISSN: 0964-3397; 1532-4036
• DOI: 10.1016/j.iccn.2015.11.004

Burnout is a serious problem for critical care unit workers because they are exposed to chronic psychosocial stressors, including high responsibility, advanced technology and high patient acuity. Recent evidence showed that staff burnout was directly associated with hospital infections, thus affecting quality and safety of care provided. The research aim was to investigate how burnout was associated with some psychosocial factors and with health care-associated infections in hospitalised patients. A total of 130 healthcare professionals from critical care units completed a self-reported questionnaire. The infection data were collected prospectively over a six-month period. The results showed that emotional exhaustion was related to cynicism due to high work demands. Cynicism affected team communication, which in turn was positively related to team efficacy, thus acting as a mediator. Finally, team efficacy was negatively related to infections. The study showed that emotional exhaustion and cynicism were related to psychosocial aspects, which in turn had a significant impact on healthcare-associated infections. Our findings suggest how burnout can indirectly affect healthcare-related infections as a result of the quality of teamwork. Thus, reducing burnout can be a good strategy to decrease infections, thus increasing workers’ well-being while improving patient care.