Sleep Quality and Professional Burnout in Clinical Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Study

TL;DR

This study finds that poor sleep quality is linked to burnout symptoms in Lithuanian clinical nurses, suggesting better sleep interventions could improve workplace well-being.

Contribution

The study establishes a novel statistical link between sleep disturbances and specific burnout dimensions in clinical nurses.

Findings

Poor sleep quality (PSQI score) is significantly associated with depersonalization in nurses (β 0.5, p = 0.002).

Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization are strongly linked to sleep disturbances and daytime dysfunction.

Over 60% of nurses showed symptoms of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, indicating high burnout risk.

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Healthcare workers often experience chronic psychological stress, which may affect up to 71% of nurses, leading to mental outcomes, namely, depressive symptoms and a chronic state of physical and emotional depletion followed by burnout syndrome. Emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and poor personal accomplishment are three core features responsible for the development of burnout. Given sleep quality as a mediator is likely to play a key role in forecasting the potential impingement of burnout both directly and indirectly, this cross-sectional study aimed to explore any possible association between sleep disorders and burnout in a cohort of Lithuanian clinical nurses. Methods: During a six-week period in October–November 2024, a total of 269 female nurses ranging between 22 and 67 years old were recruited for a cross-sectional study. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) tool and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) were applied to assess the level of subjective sleep quality over the last month and the self-perceived occupational burnout experienced by clinical nurses, respectively. Results: This study highlighted a worrying proportion of nurses found to be at an increased risk of occupational burnout syndrome after more than 60% of nurses had experienced the symptoms of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. A similar proportion of nurses was exposed to the risk of sleep disorders, which, as a potential trigger, played an important role in maintaining burnout syndrome. More specifically, the global PSQI score was related to the expression of depersonalization (β 0.5, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.2; 0.9, p = 0.002, R2 = 0.27). The higher levels of both emotion exhaustion (β 2.5, 95% CI 1.5; 3.5, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.26) and depersonalization (β 1.9, 95% CI 0.8; 3.0, p = 0.001, R2 = 0.28) were associated with perceived daily disturbances (in terms of sleep disturbances and daytime dysfunction) in nurses. Conclusions: Healthcare professionals should focus further attention on reducing high-level depersonalization expression and potential risk factors, namely sleep disturbances and daytime dysfunction associated with this burnout symptom in a population of clinical nurses. Therefore, by targeted integration of efficient sleep interventions, healthcare institutions could promote employee-friendly workplaces, and, eventually, improve not only the indicators of burnout syndrome but also nurses’ performance and patient safety as well as satisfaction with perceived nursing care.

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