Investigation on post-traumatic stress disorder, job burnout and turnover intention of nurses in a third-class hospital in Wuhan after COVID-19

  Objective  To analyze the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), job burnout and turnover intention of nurses after COVID-19.

  Methods  A total of 299 nurses were studied in a third-class hospital in Wuhan. General information questionnaire, posttraumatic stress disorder scale (civilian version, PCL-C), job burnout scale, Maslach burnout inventor (MBI)and Turnover intention questionnaire (TIQ)were used to survey post-traumatic stress disorder, job burnout and turnover intention of nurses. The influencing factors of turnover intention of nurses were analyzed by multiple linear regression.

  Results  The positive rate of PTSD was 39.1% among this population; 87.2% of nurses had various degrees of emotional exhaustion, 82.6% of nurses had various degrees of depersonalization, and 83.9% of nurses had various degrees of low personal achievement. The score of turnover intention scale showed that 25.8% of nurses had low turnover intention, 60.2% had high turnover intention, and 13.0% had highest turnover intention. Multiple linear regression results showed that professional employment time, employment type, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization could explain 27.9% of nurses' turnover intention. Nurses who worked for longer time and were employed by temporary contract had lower turnover intention, while emotional exhaustion and depersonalization had impact on turnover intention (adjusted R²=0.279, F=29.891, P < 0.01).

  Conclusions  There were post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and job burnout among nurses in the third-class hospital, and their turnover intention was high. PTSD and job burnout were the influencing factors of turnover intention. The hospital should pay attention to the physical and mental health of nurses, give timely psychological intervention and humanistic care.