Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2018 May 10;19(1):59.
doi: 10.1186/s12875-018-0748-z.

Burnout syndrome and its prevalence in primary care nursing: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Carolina S Monsalve-Reyes  1   2 , Concepción San Luis-Costas  3 , Jose L Gómez-Urquiza  4   5 , Luis Albendín-García  6 , Raimundo Aguayo  7 , Guillermo A Cañadas-De la Fuente  8
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Burnout syndrome and its prevalence in primary care nursing: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Carolina S Monsalve-Reyes et al. BMC Fam Pract. .

Abstract

Background: burnout syndrome is a significant problem in nursing professionals. Although, the unit where nurses work may influence burnout development. Nurses that work in primary care units may be at higher risk of burnout. The aim of the study was to estimate the prevalence of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and low personal accomplishment in primary care nurses.

Methods: We performed a meta-analysis. We searched Pubmed, CINAHL, Scopus, Scielo, Proquest, CUIDEN and LILACS databases up to September 2017 to identify cross-sectional studies assessing primary care nurses' burnout with the Maslach Burnout Inventory were included. The search was done in September 2017.

Results: After the search process, n = 8 studies were included in the meta-analysis, representing a total sample of n = 1110 primary care nurses. High emotional exhaustion prevalence was 28% (95% Confidence Interval = 22-34%), high depersonalization was 15% (95% Confidence Interval = 9-23%) and 31% (95% Confidence Interval = 6-66%) for low personal accomplishment.

Conclusions: Problems such as emotional exhaustion and low personal accomplishment are very common among primary care nurses, while depersonalization is less prevalent. Primary care nurses are a burnout risk group.

Keywords: Burnout; Epidemiology; Family nursing; Meta-analysis; Nursing; Prevalence; Primary care nursing.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Documents search flow diagram
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Forestplot of high emotional exhaustion
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Forestplot of high depersonalization
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Forestplot of low personal accomplishment
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Maslach C, Schaufeli W, Leiter MP. Job burnout. Annu Rev Psychol. 2001;52:397–422. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.397. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Peterson U, Demerouti E, Bergström G, Samuelsson M, Asberg M, Nygren A. Burnout and physical and mental health among Swedish healthcare workers. J Adv Nurs. 2008;62(1):84–95. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2648.2007.04580.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wood BD, Killion JB. Burnout among healthcare professionals. Radiology Manag. 2007;29:30–34. - PubMed
    1. Sablik Z, Samborska-Sablik A, Drozdz J. Universality of physicians´ burnout syndrome as a result of experiencing difficulty in relationship with patients. Arch Med Sci. 2013;9(3):398–403. doi: 10.5114/aoms.2012.28658. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Maslach C, Jackson SE. The measurement of experienced burnout. J Organizational Behav. 1981;2:99–113. doi: 10.1002/job.4030020205. - DOI

Publication types