A Comparative Analysis of Job Satisfaction, Burnout, and Intent to Leave Among Nurses

There is a significant shortage of qualified registered nurses in the United States which, in part, is due to a lack of job satisfaction and burnout with an intent to leave nursing, especially among nurses who work in specialty areas such as intensive care. There is limited research as to how job satisfaction and burnout contribute to intent to leave among the specialty areas of nursing working at the bedside in an acute care environment. The purpose, guided by the modeling and role modeling theory, was to determine the relationship that exists between burnout, job satisfaction, and intent to leave in nurses who work in the critical care unit within an acute care hospital in the Western United States. and to compare these results to nurses not working within the critical care environments of the same acute care hospital. Data were collected from 131 participants who completed three research tools (Job Satisfaction Survey, Copenhagen Burnout Inventory, and Anticipated Turnover Scale). Data were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. The results of the research indicated that nurses, regardless of unit, experienced significantly high levels of burnout out, which contributes to an intent to leave nursing. There was a relationship among job satisfaction, burnout, and intent to leave among nurses working in the critical care environment. However, there was no difference in job satisfaction, burnout, and intent to leave between nurses who work in critical care and nurses who do not work in critical care. Recommendations for future research should focus on what factors contribute to nurses leaving the bedside, which will ultimately allow nurses to continue to focus on patient care and contribute to positive social change for this population and the patient population