Balancing ethics, burnout and job satisfaction: the challenges facing nurses in teaching hospitals.

BACKGROUND

Nowadays, nurses face many situations in practice that make them suffer from moral distress and ethical dilemmas, which in turn may reduce their job satisfaction and increase the risk of burnout. This research studied the moral sensitivity of nurses working in teaching hospitals in Zanjan, Iran, and analyzed its relationship with their job satisfaction and burnout.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was carried out in the year 2023 on 261 nurses who were chosen through systematic random sampling. Tools for data collection included Minnesota Satisfaction Scale, Maslach Burnout Inventory, and Lutzen's Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire. The obtained data were analyzed through SPSS-26 using descriptive and inferential statistics. Significance level was considered less than 0.05 for all variables.

RESULTS

The moral sensitivity of subjects had a moderate degree in 71% of the respondents. Similarly, in 71.6%, the degree of job satisfaction was found to be moderate, but a high percentage showed burnout. No significant correlations were found between moral sensitivity and either job satisfaction or burnout. However, an interesting negative correlation was observed between job satisfaction and burnout. Among the demographic variables, age and working ward were observed to be related significantly with moral sensitivity (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

The findings showed that nurses had high levels of burnout besides having average moral sensitivity and job satisfaction. Moral sensitivity is highly correlated with age and work ward; therefore, young nurses and those working in high-stress and specialized departments need special attention.