Selected Aspects of Nurses' Burnout Compared to Other Employees of Social Welfare Homes

Abstract

Introduction: The staff of social welfare home is exposed to the phenomenon of occupational burnout due to the specificity and characteristics of social welfare homes functioning. In social welfare homes there are people covered by 24-hour nursing and rehabilitation care, which required a significant amount of work on the part of the staff of such a centre. Nurses in their work constantly encounter situations which result in experiencing professional stress, which in turn results from the contact with another person waiting and requiring professional care and assistance. Due to specific conditions of the profession, nurses are particularly exposed to occupational burnout. As members of an interdisciplinary therapeutic team in social welfare homes, they spend most of the time with the residents, which promotes emotional exhaustion. The aim of the research was to present selected aspects of professional burnout of nurses compared to other welfare home employees. Methods: The methods used in the research consisted of the diagnostic survey method and estimation method; research techniques: surveying and estimation scale technique, as well as PSS-10 (perceptible stress scale) and DS-14 (scale for D-type measurement) questionnaires were used. Results: The study showed a statistically significant relationship between the intensity of stress between groups of social welfare homes staff, among whom there were nurses. The highest intensity of stress was observed in the occupational group of physiotherapists and nurses, followed by the medical caregivers/caregivers in the social welfare homes, social workers and occupational therapists/cultural and educational workers. Conclusions: Nurses and medical caregivers/caregivers at SWH are the representatives of the therapeutic team most exposed to the occurrence of burnout syndrome. It is important to be aware of the threat existence and have a decisive attitude to counteract the phenomenon of occupational burnout.