Consequences of early career nurse burnout: A prospective long-term follow-up on cognitive functions, depressive symptoms, and insomnia.

Burnout Cohort Consequences Early career Mid-career Nursing Nursing workforce Professional Prospective longitudinal

Journal

EClinicalMedicine
ISSN: 2589-5370
Titre abrégé: EClinicalMedicine
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101733727

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
Oct 2020
Historique:
received: 11 06 2020
revised: 09 09 2020
accepted: 11 09 2020
entrez: 5 11 2020
pubmed: 6 11 2020
medline: 6 11 2020
Statut: epublish

Résumé

Burnout is common among nurses and midwives. We examined whether an early career episode of burnout has long-term consequences on; a) cognitive functions, b) symptoms of depression, and/or c) insomnia for nurses a decade after graduation. Symptoms of burnout were investigated in an observational longitudinal study of three national cohorts of registered nurses (RNs). Nursing students were recruited from all 26 of Sweden's nursing programs. Burnout was subsequently measured through annual assessment over the first three years post graduation, with one long-term follow-up 11-15 years after graduation. A total of 2474 nurses (62%) consented to participate at follow-up. Burnout was measured using items from the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory, cognitive function by a study specific instrument, depressive symptoms by the Major Depression Inventory, and sleep problems using items from the Karolinska Sleep Questionnaire. We used logistic regression to identify factors associated with consequences of early career burnout, adjusting for concurrent levels at follow up. The prevalence of nurses reporting high levels of burnout symptoms at least one of the first three years of working life was 299 (12·3%). High levels of burnout symptoms in early working life were significantly related to more frequent symptoms of cognitive dysfunction, depression, and impaired sleep a decade later when taking current burnout levels into account. After controlling for both current symptoms of burnout and the other outcome variables, nurses with early career burnout still reported more frequent problems with cognitive functions and sleep but not depression. The results of this study show that the detrimental processes caused by overwhelming or chronic stress start early on in nurses' careers and thus preventive efforts should preferably be introduced early on (e.g. as part of nursing education and onboarding programs). AFA Insurance Grant [number 150284].

Sections du résumé

BACKGROUND BACKGROUND
Burnout is common among nurses and midwives. We examined whether an early career episode of burnout has long-term consequences on; a) cognitive functions, b) symptoms of depression, and/or c) insomnia for nurses a decade after graduation.
METHODS METHODS
Symptoms of burnout were investigated in an observational longitudinal study of three national cohorts of registered nurses (RNs). Nursing students were recruited from all 26 of Sweden's nursing programs. Burnout was subsequently measured through annual assessment over the first three years post graduation, with one long-term follow-up 11-15 years after graduation. A total of 2474 nurses (62%) consented to participate at follow-up. Burnout was measured using items from the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory, cognitive function by a study specific instrument, depressive symptoms by the Major Depression Inventory, and sleep problems using items from the Karolinska Sleep Questionnaire. We used logistic regression to identify factors associated with consequences of early career burnout, adjusting for concurrent levels at follow up.
FINDINGS RESULTS
The prevalence of nurses reporting high levels of burnout symptoms at least one of the first three years of working life was 299 (12·3%). High levels of burnout symptoms in early working life were significantly related to more frequent symptoms of cognitive dysfunction, depression, and impaired sleep a decade later when taking current burnout levels into account. After controlling for both current symptoms of burnout and the other outcome variables, nurses with early career burnout still reported more frequent problems with cognitive functions and sleep but not depression.
INTERPRETATION CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study show that the detrimental processes caused by overwhelming or chronic stress start early on in nurses' careers and thus preventive efforts should preferably be introduced early on (e.g. as part of nursing education and onboarding programs).
FUNDING BACKGROUND
AFA Insurance Grant [number 150284].

Identifiants

pubmed: 33150328
doi: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100565
pii: S2589-5370(20)30309-6
pmc: PMC7599295
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Pagination

100565

Informations de copyright

© 2020 The Authors.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

All authors report no competing interests.

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Auteurs

Ann Rudman (A)

Division of Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Nobels väg 9, Solna, Stockholm SE-171 65, Sweden.

Lotta Arborelius (L)

Division of Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Nobels väg 9, Solna, Stockholm SE-171 65, Sweden.

Anna Dahlgren (A)

Division of Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Nobels väg 9, Solna, Stockholm SE-171 65, Sweden.

Anna Finnes (A)

Division of Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Nobels väg 9, Solna, Stockholm SE-171 65, Sweden.

Petter Gustavsson (P)

Division of Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Nobels väg 9, Solna, Stockholm SE-171 65, Sweden.

Classifications MeSH