Influence of the working environment and external factors on the occurrance of burnout syndrome of nurses/technicians - a comparison of the Republic of Croatia and the Kingdom of Sweden

Uvod: Sindrom izgaranja je stanje emocionalne, fizičke i mentalne iscrpljenosti uzrokovane dugotrajnim stresom na poslu. Užurbani tempo života, razvoj kroničnih bolesti i starenje stanovništva doveli su do sve većih izazova u sustavu zdravstva kao što su nedovoljni broj zdravstvenih radnika u bolnicama, preopterećenost medicinskih sestara i tehničara, a posljedično i učestaliji sindrom izgaranja među medicinskim sestrama i tehničarima. Cilj: Cilj istraživanja je ispitati pojavnost sindroma izgaranja medicinskih sestara/tehničara koji rade u hrvatskim i švedskim bolnicama te usporediti intenzitet izgaranja s obzirom na različite vanjske faktore i radnu okolinu. Metode: Istraživanjem je obuhvaćeno ukupno 967 ispitanika s područja Republike Hrvatske i Kraljevine Švedske, a za statističku analizu podataka korištene su deskriptivne, inferencijalne te multivarijatne statističke metode. Rezultati: Među medicinskim sestrama i tehničarima u Republici Hrvatskoj više je izgaranja na sve tri razine izgaranja u odnosu na medicinske sestre I tehničare u Kraljevini Švedskoj. Prema razultatima je u RH u odnosu na KŠ, više vanjskih faktora iz radne okoline koji značajno utječu na izgaranje, kao što su loši međuljudski odnosi, prekovremeni rad i noćni rad. Zaključak: Iz rezultata dobivenih istraživanjem zaključujemo da različita radna okolina i vanjski uvjeti različito djeluju na pojavu sindroma izgaranja, odnosno značajniji je njihov utjecaj u RH nego u KŠ. Po pitanju stresa uočena je bitna razlika stanja u RH u odnosu na KŠ što upućuje na činjenicu da promjena i poboljšanje radne okoline i uvjeta rada mogu smanjiti pojavnost sindroma izgaranja.Introduction: Burnout syndrome is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion, caused by long term stress at workplac. The hectic pace of life, the development of chronic diseases and the aging of population have led to increasing challenges in the health system such as insufficient number of health workers in hospitals, overload of nurses and technicians, and consequently more frequent burnout syndrome among nurses. Purpose: The aim of the research is to examine the occurrence of burnout syndrome among nurses/technicians working in Croatian and Swedish hospitals, and to compare the intensity of burnout considering various external factors, and the working environment. Methods: The research included a total of 967 respondents from the territory of the Republic of Croatia and the Kingdom of Sweden, and descriptive, inferential and multivariate statistical methods were used for statistical analysis of data. Results: Among nurses and technicians in Republic of Croatia, there is more burnout at all three levels of burnout compared to nurses and technicians in the Kingdom of Sweden. According to results, in Croatia, compared to Sweden, there are several external factors of the working environment that significantly affect burnout, such as poor interpersonal relationships, overtime and night work. Conclusion: From the results obtained by the research, we conclude that different working environments and external factors, have different effects on the occurrence of burnout syndrome, respectively their impact is more significant in Croatia than in Sweden. Regarding stress, there is a significant difference in the situation in Croatia in relation to Sweden, which indicates the fact that changes and improvements in the working environment and working conditions, can reduce the incidence of burnout syndrome