[Correlation Between Nursing Work Environment and Nurse Burnout, Job Satisfaction, and Turnover Intention in the Western Region of Mainland China]

Background: Nurse burnout and low job satisfaction are main reasons that cause nurses to leave their current position. Improving the nursing work environment may reduce the severity of job burnout and of job dissatisfaction and thus decrease the turnover intention of nursing staff.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore the correlation between the nursing work environment and the outcome variables of burnout, job satisfaction, and turnover intention in the western region of Mainland China.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study. Survey data were collected between February and December 2012 from 1,112 clinical nurses working at 83 medical, surgical, and intensive care units in 20 hospitals across the western region of Mainland China. Multistage sampling was conducted on some of the participants. The research instruments that were used included the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index, Maslach Burnout Inventory, Nurse Job Satisfaction Scale, and the self-developed basic information and turnover intention questionnaire. Statistical analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19.0. The level of statistical significance was set at p<.05.

Results: Among the five dimensions of the nursing work environment, collegial nurse-physician relations earned the most favorable mean scores (3.57±0.68; total=4 points), whereas adequacy of staffing and resources earned the lowest (3.21±0.82). Over half of the participants (58.4%) reported experiencing a high level of emotional exhaustion (EE) burnout, 45.2% reported experiencing a high level of depersonalization (DP) burnout, and 24.6% reported experiencing a high level of personal accomplishment (PA) burnout. About 59% of the participants were satisfied with their work and 3.8% reported intention to leave. Participants in self-reported "favorable" work environments were less likely to report high burnout, less likely to report intention to leave, and more likely to report job satisfaction than their peers in self-reported "poor" work environments. The odds ratio (OR) values were 0.64 (EE), 0.66 (DP), 0.57 (PA), 0.19, and 2.26.

Conclusions/implications For Practice: The results of the present study support that the nursing work environment affects nurse burnout, job satisfaction, and turnover intention. Therefore, nursing managers should work to improve nursing work environments in order to reduce the turnover intent among their nursing staff.