Fifty-six percent of nurses report experiencing burnout, 64% attribute feelings of stress to their job, and 39% are considering an exit from their role within the next six months — that's according to the American Nurses Foundation's fourth annual survey of nurse wellness published Nov. 7.
"What we're finding year over year is that not much has changed since the start of the pandemic, which to me is the most alarming finding from this report," Kate Judge, executive director of the American Nurses Foundation, stated in a Nov. 7 news release. "Another disturbing statistic is that younger nurses and less tenured nurses — a key demographic in shoring up the nursing pipeline — are more negatively affected by burnout, turnover and mental health challenges. What nurses need now is a radical transformation in all levels of support and resources they receive."
For the survey, more than 7,400 nurses were interviewed about mental health and wellness factors related to their roles in May 2023. Among the factors they identified that contribute the most to burnout on the job were (nurses could make three selections to this response):
- Not enough staff to adequately do their job — 30%
- Patient load and clinical task volume — 23.36%
- Poor or difficult leadership — 22.79%
- Too many administrative tasks including charting, EHRs and documentation — 21.59%
- Challenging patients and families — 17.63%
- Insufficient compensation — 17.28%
- Lack of respect from colleagues or employer — 15.24%
- Working too many hours — 11.21%
- Lack of respect from patients/families — 10.55%
- Workflow issues — 9.57%
- Lack of teamwork — 8.73%
- Unable to request leave as needed — 7.9%
- Organizational values — 6.69%
- Insufficient supplies — 5.62%
- Lack of autonomy over life outside of work — 5.19%
