Understanding burnout in the current nephrology nursing workforce and health service ‘magnet’ qualities that may help address it: a discreet choice experiment

Objective Australia is currently experiencing a shortage of nursing staff that will have a negative impact on nursing specialties. We examined the current Australian and New Zealand nephrology nursing workforce for measures of burnout as well as for the features of ‘magnet’ qualities that can attract staff, support the workforce and reduce attrition. Methods A co-designed 57-item survey was distributed to the nephrology nursing workforce online through membership of the Renal Society of Australasia. The survey used the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI) and included a discreet choice experiment (DCE) in which respondents are offered different choices, blinded to the intention, and asked to rank in order of highest priority what they considered to be the most valuable organisational attributes. Results The 253 respondents to the OLBI described moderate burnout (mean score 40.4); however, the respondents were mostly still able to describe feeling a sense of achievement most days. For the 143 respondents who completed the DCE, they chose professional