Nurses' creativity, tedium and burnout during 1 year of clinical supervision and implementation of individually planned nursing care: comparisons between a ward for severely demented patients and a similar control ward.

The aim of this study was to study creativity and innovative climate, tedium and burnout among the nurses on two wards during 1 year of systematic clinic supervision combined with the implementation of individualized care on an experimental ward (EW) for severely demented patients, as compared with a similar control ward (CW). EW nurses had systematic clinic supervision and each patient had his/her nursing care carefully planned, documented and evaluated. The intervention was evaluated by means of the Creative Climate Questionnaire, Burnout Measure and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Creativity and innovative climate improved significantly among the EW nurses (n = 19) in eight out of 10 factors during the year of intervention while there was no change on the control ward (n = 20). Tedium and burnout decreased significantly among the EW nurses while no change was seen in this respect among the CW nurses. It seems reasonable to assume that systematic clinical supervision and individualized planned care decreases the negative outcome of stress caused by the psychological burden imposed by nursing care. It also increases nurses' creativity, which, in turn, may benefit patient care. The findings of this study point to the necessity for a support system that focuses on the work itself, i.e. the nursing care. Individualized planned care and systematic clinical supervision may offer this kind of support.