Comparison of Nurses in Two Different Cultures: Who Experiences More Burnout.

PURPOSE: Although burnout occurs in almost all occupational groups, it is mostly observed in professions requiring face-to-face relationships with people, especially among health care workers who deal constantly with problems and expectations of people. DESIGN: The objective of this study was to determine the burnout levels of nurses working in surgical clinics in two countries. METHODS: This descriptive study was conducted between June and September 2013. The study's population consisted of 179 nurses working in the surgical clinics of Ataturk University Research Hospital and Iran Urmiyili Shahidmotahari University Hospital. A questionnaire involving descriptive characteristics of nurses and the Maslach Burnout Inventory were used to collect the data. FINDINGS: Nurses working in Turkey had higher mean scores of "emotional exhaustion" and "depersonalization," and a higher mean composite score. Nurses working in Iran had higher mean scores of the subscale "personal accomplishment." Although there was a statistically significant difference between both countries in terms of emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment (P < .05), there was no statistically significant difference between them in terms of mean score of depersonalization and total mean composite score of the inventory (P > .05). CONCLUSIONS: Nurses working in Turkey experienced more emotional exhaustion and less personal accomplishment compared with nurses working in Iran. In line with this result, improvements in their work environment and conditions are recommended to provide organizational support by fostering job satisfaction, preventing exhaustion by arranging shifts based on workload, and offering psychological counseling services to employees.

Inevitable problems of older people: presurgery information effect on anxiety levels in patients undergoing cataract surgery.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: This study was to determine the effect of preoperative patient training on the concern level of patients who would be undergoing cataract surgery. BACKGROUND: Cataract is one of the main causes of blindness in the world. Cataract surgery is located among the quite frequently performed surgeries today. DESIGN: This study was an experimental study. METHODS: The subject pool for this research consisted of patients admitted to the Eskisehir Osmangazi University Medical Faculty Hospital Ophthalmology Department for cataract surgery. The sampling consisted of volunteers who were able to communicate and were deemed suitable patients within the limitations of this study (a total of 100 patients; control group = 50, experimental group = 50). Patient identification forms and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory I-II scale were used as data collection tools. RESULTS: The mean State Trait Anxiety Inventory pretest score for the experimental group was significantly higher than the mean final test score (53·30 ± 7·02 and 27·54 ± 3·25, respectively, p < 0·05). The mean State Trait Anxiety Inventory pretest score of the control group was 53·82 ± 7·42 and the mean final test score was 49·22 ± 13·17; there was no significant difference between these average scores (p > 0·05). However, the mean final test scores of the experimental and control groups were significantly different (p < 0·05). CONCLUSIONS: In the experimental group in this study, informative, educational and planned nursing care had a significant impact on anxiety levels in patients who had cataract surgery. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Although it is not implemented in most hospitals, and implementation in some hospitals is unplanned, systematically planned preoperative education should take place as part of standard nursing practices.