Nurses in England and Ireland working longer shifts with higher risk of burnout, research says

Nurses in England and Ireland are more likely to work shifts of 12 hours or more leading to a higher risk of burnout, an international study has found.

A survey of more than 31,000 hospital nurses in 12 European countries found that more than a third (36%) of respondents in England and four out of five (79%) in Ireland work more than 12 hours a shift.

This was topped only by respondents in Poland where 99% of those surveyed said they work this shift length.

The research, published in the online journal BMJ Open, found that longer shifts correlated to heightened risk of burnout and job dissatisfaction.

Across all the countries, around one in four (27%) reported high emotional exhaustion, one in 10 (10%) said they experienced high de-personalisation and 17% felt low personal accomplishment - the three recognised measures of burnout.

A quarter (26%) expressed dissatisfaction with their job, a similar proportion (25%) were equally dissatisfied with their work schedule flexibility, and a third said they intended to leave their current job (33%).

More than one in four of the entire sample (27%) had worked overtime on their last shift.

The study was led by the University of Southampton, with the authors suggesting that health leaders should question whether shifts longer than eight hours were appropriate.

"Our results provide the basis for managers and nurses alike to question routine implementation of shifts longer than eight hours, and the use of overtime that is associated with poor nurse outcomes under any shift length, suggesting that overtime may not be a useful strategy to cope with nursing shortages," they said.

The study saw nurses in Belgium, England, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and Sweden questioned.

The most common shift length across all countries was eight or fewer hours (50%), while almost a third (31%) worked 8 to 10 hours, 4% worked 10 to 12 hours and 14% worked 12 to 13 hours.

Some 1% worked more than 13 hours.