Impact of nurse burnout on organizational and position turnover

BACKGROUND: The National Academies of Medicine describes clinician burnout as a serious threat to organizational health, including employee turnover. PURPOSE: To determine the relationship between resilience, burnout, and organizational and position turnover. METHODS: We surveyed direct care nurses in three hospitals 1 year apart between 2018 and 2019; 1,688 nurses completed 3,135 surveys included in analysis. FINDINGS: Fifty-four percent of nurses in our sample suffer from moderate burnout, with emotional exhaustion scores increasing by 10% and cynicism scores increasing 19% after 1 year. The impact of burnout on organizational turnover was significant, with a 12% increase in a nurse leaving for each unit increase on the emotional exhaustion scale, though it was not a factor in position turnover. DISCUSSION: These findings contribute to the growing body of evidence of nurse burnout and support policies and programs for annual measurement of burnout, increased employee wellbeing support, and improved work environments.