• Melanie Verdon, Paolo Merlani, Thomas Perneger, and Bara Ricou.
• Department of Anaesthesiology, Pharmacology and Intensive Care, Service of Intensive Care, Rue Micheli-du-Crest 24, 1211 Geneva 14, Switzerland. melanie.verdon@hcuge.ch
• Intensive Care Med. 2008 Jan 1; 34 (1): 152-6.

ObjectivePsychologically stressful situations, a physically demanding workload and a high requirement for technological skills can lead ICU caregivers to burnout. The aim of our study was to evaluate their level of burnout as well as the related factors.DesignA self-administered anonymous questionnaire.SettingA 20-bed surgical ICU in a university hospital.Patients And ParticipantsNurse assistants, nurses.InterventionsNone.Measurements And ResultsNinety-seven of 107 questionnaires (91%) were returned. Of the members of ICU nursing team, 28% showed a high level of burnout. They reported a number of concerns, and that they felt discomfort and suffering. There was a discrepancy between the factors felt to be important by them and those statistically related to the burnout. Among the reported concerns, only the lack of patients' co-operation, the organization of the service and the rapid patient turnover were independently associated with a high level of burnout. As many as 49% of the nursing team felt stressed.ConclusionsAlmost a third of the ICU nursing team showed a high level of burnout. The factors felt to be important may not be those related to burnout. Since the well-being of the nursing team is important for the quality of care, corrective actions against the related factors should be sought in order to alleviate the suffering.

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