Hospital Nurses in Comparison to Community Nurses: Motivation, Empathy, and the Mediating Role of Burnout

Abstract

Background Hospital nurses’ experience of their profession differs from that of community clinic nurses due to different working conditions and settings. Purpose To compare hospital nurses and community clinic nurses as to the mediating role of burnout on motivation and empathy. Methods In this cross-sectional study, 457 nurses completed four questionnaires: Demographic, Motivation Questionnaire, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire. Results Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization among hospital nurses were significantly higher than among community nurses. No significant differences were found in personal accomplishment, empathy, and motivation between the groups. Empathy and motivation were more strongly correlated among hospital nurses than among community nurses. Burnout was found to be a significant mediator between empathy and motivation in both groups but in each group by different burnout subscales. Conclusions To reduce burnout, leaders in the nursing field must enhance conditions in the hospital nurses’ work environment to lower levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization; community nurses should be guided to improve their attitudes toward their on-the-job performance to promote their personal accomplishment. Understanding the differences could direct policy makers’ desire toward enacting policies that accommodate these differences and focus on the needs of both groups of professionals.

Why so stressed? a comparative study on stressors and stress between hospital and non-hospital nurses

“…This is supported by previous nding which found that stress level was signi cantly and positively correlated with all components of workplace stressor among nurses [40]. Previous studies also reported that hospital nurses may face higher stressors related to workload, death and dying, and con ict with family members or colleague [27][28][29]. The stressors could also be implicated by shift work which could adversely impact social, personal, family and occupational life [41][42] and made complicated by marriage life [39,[42][43].…”

“…Our study extent the previous knowledge that prove differential in mental health status and its determinants between hospital and non-hospital nurses. For instance, a study by Dor et al (2018) found that hospital nurses had a signi cantly higher level of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization as compared to community nurses [28]. Previous study by Starc (2018) found that nurses from secondary level of healthcare reported higher level of stressors related to dealing with death, working with di cult patients, exposure to infection, working at night, lack of personnel, and working hours as compared to nurses from primary care [49].…”

“…Given the same job title as a nurse, their exposure to home and work stressors may signi cantly differ between hospital and non-hospital nurses. For instance, hospital nurses are more commonly work in a shift schedule which may limits their time with family members, introduce con ict with family members, or trigger con ict with doctors or other nurses related to pass-over session [27][28]. Nurses in hospital also had relatively higher workload related to acute patients or complicated medical interventions and face multiple events related to death and dying [27][28][29].…”

“…For instance, hospital nurses are more commonly work in a shift schedule which may limits their time with family members, introduce con ict with family members, or trigger con ict with doctors or other nurses related to pass-over session [27][28]. Nurses in hospital also had relatively higher workload related to acute patients or complicated medical interventions and face multiple events related to death and dying [27][28][29]. In contrast, nurses at non-hospital setting which typically operate in non-shift schedule may have better staff support and less workplace con ict as they more likely to work in a same team every day [30].…”

Why so stressed? A comparative study on stressors and stress between hospital and non-hospital nurses

“…Such an instance is the shift system employed by hospital nurses. This shift system has the consequence of limiting time spent with family members which can be a cause of con ict with them [27][28]. It can also trigger contention with fellow doctors and nurses during pass-over session [27][28].…”