A research survey of almost nine-hundred nursing staff has found that long hours combined with poor staffing and little choice in working patterns is likely to be behind nurses burning out and becoming exhausted at work.
Working 12-hour shifts in hospitals is quite common and in previous research it has been found that nursing staff that regularly work long shifts can burnout, and in some cases leave the profession or become ill.
Dr Chiara Dall’Ora, Dr Zoe Ejebu and Professors Jane Ball and Peter Griffiths from the University of Southampton examined responses from 870 nurses in the UK and looked at the factors affecting their work life.
The research is published in the journal Occupational Medicine https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqad046
It concludes that:
We found that working shifts between 8 and 12 h, inadequate staffing levels and having no choice over shift length were associated with an increased risk of burnout. Inadequate staffing levels, no choice over shift length and rarely or never taking breaks were associated with exhaustion.
Also
Our finding that staff who had a complete choice over shift patterns were less likely to experience burnout and exhaustion should be considered carefully. Complete choice over work hours may have little impact if other factors contributing to burnout and exhaustion persist. Also, complete choice of work hours might be impractical in settings providing 24/7 care. Innovative solutions that balance nurses’ preferences and health services’ staffing needs while limiting unhealthy working hours may improve nurses’ burnout and exhaustion. Given the implications of burnout on nurse well-being, retention and patient safety, finding such solutions is imperative.
Last Autumn the health charity, The King’s Fund, released a report suggesting:
Despite the constant pressures and chronic shortages, the number of nurses leaving the NHS had flatlined over recent years. Now our analysis of new data shows there has been a large increase in nurses leaving the NHS, and that this trend is being driven by younger workers.
The last year's data (June 2021 - June 2022) saw a 25 per cent increase in the number of NHS nurses leaving their role, with an additional 7,000 leaving compared to the previous year. The largest increase in numbers leaving was seen among the younger nurses, two thirds of leavers were under 45 years of age.
The research is part of a string of work conducted by the Workforce and Health Systems research theme at NIHR ARC Wessex (National Institute for Health and Care Research Applied Research Collaboration Wessex).
For more information about what NIHR ARC Wessex does please go to our website
There is a short explainer of the findings at https://vimeo.com/823738288
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