Abstract
Objectives To determine the well-being of physicians and nurses in hospital practice in Europe, and to identify interventions that hold promise for reducing adverse clinician outcomes and improving patient safety.
Design Baseline cross-sectional survey of 2187 physicians and 6643 nurses practicing in 64 hospitals in six European countries participating in the EU-funded Magnet4Europe intervention to improve clinicians’ well-being.
Setting Acute general hospitals with 150 or more beds in six European countries: Belgium, England, Germany, Ireland, Sweden and Norway.
Participants Physicians and nurses with direct patient contact working in adult medical and surgical inpatient units, including intensive care and emergency departments.
Main outcome measures Burnout, job dissatisfaction, physical and mental health, intent to leave job, quality of care and patient safety and interventions clinicians believe would improve their well-being.
Results Poor work/life balance (57% physicians, 40% nurses), intent to leave (29% physicians, 33% nurses) and high burnout (25% physicians, 26% nurses) were prevalent. Rates varied by hospitals within countries and between countries. Better work environments and staffing were associated with lower percentages of clinicians reporting unfavourable health indicators, quality of care and patient safety. The effect of a 1 IQR improvement in work environments was associated with 7.2% fewer physicians and 5.3% fewer nurses reporting high burnout, and 14.2% fewer physicians and 8.6% fewer nurses giving their hospital an unfavourable rating of quality of care. Improving nurse staffing levels (79% nurses) and reducing bureaucracy and red tape (44% physicians) were interventions clinicians reported would be most effective in improving their own well-being, whereas individual mental health interventions were less frequently prioritised.
Conclusions Burnout, mental health morbidities, job dissatisfaction and concerns about patient safety and care quality are prevalent among European hospital physicians and nurses. Interventions to improve hospital work environments and staffing are more important to clinicians than mental health interventions to improve personal resilience.
Design Baseline cross-sectional survey of 2187 physicians and 6643 nurses practicing in 64 hospitals in six European countries participating in the EU-funded Magnet4Europe intervention to improve clinicians’ well-being.
Setting Acute general hospitals with 150 or more beds in six European countries: Belgium, England, Germany, Ireland, Sweden and Norway.
Participants Physicians and nurses with direct patient contact working in adult medical and surgical inpatient units, including intensive care and emergency departments.
Main outcome measures Burnout, job dissatisfaction, physical and mental health, intent to leave job, quality of care and patient safety and interventions clinicians believe would improve their well-being.
Results Poor work/life balance (57% physicians, 40% nurses), intent to leave (29% physicians, 33% nurses) and high burnout (25% physicians, 26% nurses) were prevalent. Rates varied by hospitals within countries and between countries. Better work environments and staffing were associated with lower percentages of clinicians reporting unfavourable health indicators, quality of care and patient safety. The effect of a 1 IQR improvement in work environments was associated with 7.2% fewer physicians and 5.3% fewer nurses reporting high burnout, and 14.2% fewer physicians and 8.6% fewer nurses giving their hospital an unfavourable rating of quality of care. Improving nurse staffing levels (79% nurses) and reducing bureaucracy and red tape (44% physicians) were interventions clinicians reported would be most effective in improving their own well-being, whereas individual mental health interventions were less frequently prioritised.
Conclusions Burnout, mental health morbidities, job dissatisfaction and concerns about patient safety and care quality are prevalent among European hospital physicians and nurses. Interventions to improve hospital work environments and staffing are more important to clinicians than mental health interventions to improve personal resilience.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-10 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | BMJ Open |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 12 Feb 2024 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published (in print/issue) - 2024 |
Data Access Statement
No data are available.Funding
This study is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the project Magnet4Europe: Improving Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Health Care Workplace (Grant Agreement Number 848031) and the National Institute of Nursing Research, National Institutes of Health (R01NR014855 and T32NR007104). The investigation presented here is the responsibility of the authors only. The EU Commission takes no responsibility for any use made of the information set out.
