Burnout and Job Satisfaction of Medical-Surgical Nurses

Abstract

Job satisfaction and burnout of medical-surgical nurses a n d t h e i r . r e 1 at i_ o n s h i p to . t h. e ~ ri u· r s .. e ' s o p t i. on t o w or k h e r I h i s s hi f t ·of choice was stud i e d . The Mas 1 a c h Burnout Inventory (Maslach and Jackson, 1981-), the Job Satisfaction-Instrument (Wall, ·1980; and Sorrow, 1980) and a Demographic Data Form were used to survey t~enty randomly selected registe~ed nurses f r o m e a c h . o f t h r e e s o u t h e a s t e r n h o s p l t a 1 s . ( t o t-a 1 N = 6 0 ) .. Result~ of this study indicated that as job satisfact}on increased, the intensity of burnout reported by medical-surgical nurses decreased. Frequency and intensity of burnout were positively correlated. Burnout occorred among n~rses who worked their choice of shift and among nurses who did not. However, nurses who worked their choice of shift reported a significantly lower intensity of burnout than nurses who did not work their choice of shift. This study prov.ides some interest-· ing data to be ~onside~ed by nurse administrators in working .with medical-sur9ical nurses. Replication and extension of this study is recommended.