The risk to have professional burn out can be decreased by having a higher ratio of female nurses among intensive care teams, this study was conducted by the investigators in Switzerland who researched the factors connected to burn out in the intensive care unit (ICU).
Burn out is a psychological term for the experience of long diminished interest and long-term exhaustion. This can lead to emotional instability, feelings of failure and low productivity. At times, burn out may also lead to an urge to leave the job.
According to Paolo Merlani, MD, the attending physician at the University Hospital of Geneva, avoiding and understanding burn out is important. A way to lessen the burn out is through having the right amount of nurses in the ICU. The ratio of ICU nurses are short than its usual ratio. One of the reasons why there has a decreased number of nurses in the ICU because they are having a hard to time to fit in the duties and responsibilities in ICU due to they have no proper training.
Researchers used a questionnaires that recorded the demographic data, personal characteristics, risk of burn out and subjective stress to assess the possibility of burn out among different employees. Researchers studied over 3,000 Swiss ICUs were evaluated.
The study showed that a higher ratio of female nurses reduces the overall risk of burn out. On the other hand, female likely to experience stress, however, they can cope up to stress and resist burn out compared to male nurses.
The research was published online in the articles-in-press section of the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory System and Critical Care Medicine.
In addition, Dr. Merlani added that female found it easier to admit their stress than males. Men are not open to talk about their feelings and their problems. According to him, nurse assistants had the greater risk for burn out of all the professionals that were examined. Nurse assistants normally do post mortem care that increases their psychological stress that may lead to burn out.