Nurses’ professional burnout in Athens and province areas

Aim: It was to record the level of professional burnout in health professionals working in hospitals of Athens and provincial towns, targeting to track differences between work sector , as well as between Athens and province areas. Material and Methods: 448 nurses of Athens' and provincial hospitals, working in internal medicine department, surgery and emergency department were included in the study. Descriptive statistics was performed, while T-test was used for within groups' comparison. Statistical significance level was set at p=0.05. SPSS 16.0 was used. Results: 34% exhibited high emotional exhaustion, 44% high depersonalization and 60% low personal achievement. Nurses in province areas exhibited higher depersonalization. Workers in the surgery department exhibited statistically lower mean values in the subscales of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization compared to those working in the two other sectors. Conclusion: Nurses working in province areas and in medical/ emergency departments were the most vulnerable to professional burnout syndrome.