Exploratory Study In Nursing

This section presents the evidence identified through a search and review of the literature related to nurse burnout in twelve-hour shifts and eight-hour shifts. Six articles published between 1996 and 2015 were reviewed (Dall’Ora, Griffiths., Ball, Simon, & Aiken, 2015; Dweyer, Jamieson, Moxham, Austen, & Smith, 2007; Iskera-golec, Folkard, Marek, & Noworol, 1996; Richardson, Turnock, Harris, Finley, & Carson, 2007; Stimpfel, Sloane, & Aiken, 2012; Stone et al., 2006). Findings included five cross-sectional studies and an exploratory study. Sample sizes ranged from 19 to 31,627 with a total of 56,397 participants. The subjects in the studies were registered nurses from various clinical sites of practice including intensive critical care, medical

In these four studies, burnout was assessed using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) questionnaire, a common use instrument that measures work-related burnout. The MBI measures three dimensions of burnout which includes, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment. Burnout is indicated by high scores on emotional exhaustion and depersonalization and low scores on personal accomplishment. Of the four studies, three studies suggested that eight-hour shifts decrease nurse burnout in comparison to twelve-hour shifts (Dall’Ora et al., 2015; Iskera-golec et al., 1996; Stimpfel et al., 2012). It was found that nurses who work eight hours scored lower on emotional exhaustion and depersonalization than nurses working twelve hours. However, one study had findings that contradicted with the findings of the above three studies. A study with nurses from fourteen different hospitals in New York City found that the percentage of nurses working eight-hour shifts that experienced burnout was higher than the percentage of nurses working twelve-hour shifts (Stone et al., 2006). Nurses with an eight-hour shift length experienced more depersonalization and emotional exhaustion and less accomplishment than the nurses with a twelve-hour shift length. Nurses reported feeling more satisfied at work and 58% less likely to report missing shifts when working twelve-hour