The burnout syndrome may be defined as a complex phenomenon which is characterized by three components: emotional burnout (physical and psychical exhaustion, incapability to carry on requirements), depersonalization (cynical attitude towards performed work, duties, cold or negative reaction to the patients), and lowered efficiency (reflected by the sense of incompetence, the lack of efficiency and achievements). This process is progressing slowly for a long time and is characterized individually by various psychical and physical symptoms of different intensity. The aim of this study was to examine the manifestation of burnout syndrome and to estimate the influence of the syndrome on the behavior and practice of the nurses in cardiac surgery units of Lithuania (to evaluate physiological and psychological symptoms of the burnout).
Methods: The study was performed using a questionnaire. A total of 180 questionnaires completed by nurses in Lithuanian cardiac surgical centers (Vilnius, Kaunas, and Klaipeda) were analyzed.
Results: The study revealed that 72.8% of nurses had an excess of workload (exceeding full-time job). Most of the respondents (84.4%) pointed out the emotional stress, unevaluated work and underpayment. Three-fourths of the nurses (75%) indicated that they felt physical fatigue after their work. More than half of nurses (67.2%) felt general fatigue, 63.3% reported the leg pains after the work, and 32.2% feel splitting headaches. Psychological fatigue was stressed by 86.1% of specialists. The main causes of psychological stress are as follows: the communication with the doctors in 57% of the cases, communication with the patient's relatives in 52% of cases, communication with the nursing administration in 49% of cases, and communication with the patients in 40% of cases.
Conclusions: The majority of the nurses working in the centers of cardiac surgery experience physical and psychological fatigue, emotional stress. All this determinates the dissatisfaction in the work, conflicts rising between the nurse and job environment. Above-mentioned symptoms show the progression of the burnout syndrome.