Determinants of emotional exhaustion among nursing workforce in urban Ghana: a cross-sectional study

The subject of burnout in a form of emotional exhaustion has become imperative in health organizations because of the emerging trends in employment and its related problems. It is been ascertained that unhealthy practice environment such as increased workloads, absurd nurse-patient ratios, and scarce human and material resources is a major threat in the well-being of professionals especially in the incidence of emotional exhaustion among nursing workforce [1‐4]; and any organisational culture that does not support its personnel has burnout costs [4]. Emotional exhaustion, which is one of the pillars of ‘Burnout Syndrome’ is defined as syndrome characterized by losing enthusiasm for work [5‐8] and it is conceptualised as a response to a discrepancy between job-related strains and resources that is presented through feelings of emotional fatigue [9]. Emotional exhaustion also presents as a chronic manifestation of somatic and emotional depletion that results from extreme workload and/or personal strains and incessant tension from job [10]. It is understood to develops from defects in the structural and psychological make-ups in an organisation [11, 12]; and the study of this phenomenon in other jurisdictions among nurses have produced distinctive outcomes that need a critical look.

Among health workers, the nursing workforce is mostly found to report constantly complex intensity of emotional exhaustion. The frequency ranges between 37 and 89% among nurses in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It is, however, common among Intensive Care Units (ICUs) nurses and those who provide reproductive health services. The resultant consequences are low staff productivity and dissatisfaction of care provided by health caregivers [13, 14]. Within the context of a hospital setting, nurses in various units are duty bound to provide care to patients in settings associated with complex care and impending death. They also face death and grief situations on daily basis, and are at risk of becoming more susceptible to psychological repercussions and stress, frequently occasioning in emotional exhaustion [15, 16]. Emotional exhaustion of nurses has been identified to increased work-related infections, increased medication error, high incidence of patients’ fall, poor nurse-physician relations, low personal accomplishment of the nurse, job dissatisfaction and increased turnover intention [17, 18]. Burnout at workplace also gives rise to chronic adverse emotions such as anger, anxiety or depression, mental exhaustion, apprehension, low enthusiasm, and absenteeism which certainly endangers not only the nurses own health, but also their patients [19, 20].

In low-middle-income countries (LMICs) where nurses undertake their task in unfavourable practice environment (uncomfortable postures, extreme noise intensities, and congested work area), there is moderate to higher dimensions of burnout in the form of emotional exhaustion [21]. This obviously make the responsibility of giving care to patients extra demanding. The interactions between professional’s work environment and emotional exhaustion cannot be underestimated; as workplace which boast of quality leadership and nurses’ involvement in decision-making presents with low levels of exhaustion [22, 23]. Greater autonomy for nurses in respect of adequate staffing and resources and positive nurse-physician relation has also been found to improve this phenomenon; and thus reflects on nurses’ job satisfaction and enhanced quality of care to clients [24‐26].

With World Health Organization (WHO) report on nursing workforce stating that more nurses are required in attaining satisfactory nurse-patient ratio especially in LMICs [27]; measures are needed to reduce emotional exhaustion among nurses. Potential widening of the disproportion of nurse-patient ratio places huge workload that build continuous psychosomatic stress on nurses in a form of fatigue and emotional exhaustion. In extreme cases, emotional exhaustion is reported to results in work-family conflict for the nurse [28, 29].

In SSA, organisational factors (demands from job, control over work, social support, and interpersonal relationships, and change over the role of staff) considerably impact on staff’s emotional exhaustion. Most nurses have increased chances of exhaustion relative to other health care providers [30, 31]. As reported in Switzerland 1:59, Canada 1:106 and United Kingdom 1:118; there is better efficiency in relation to nurse-patient ratio in high-resource countries compared to reported lower nurse-patient ratio in countries in SSA, with perhaps the exception of South Africa (1:192) and few other countries with encouraging statistics. Evidently, Sudan (1:833), Gambia (1:1111), Rwanda (1:1250) and Mali (1:1667) reported a very low nurse-patient ratio with Senegal (0.3) and Mozambique (0.4) even more frightening. While there has been significant improvement in the nurse-patient ratios in Ghana from 1:1251 in 2012 to 1:542 in 2016, and currently 4.2:1000, much is still needed to increase the nursing workforce in Ghana. With this unsafe nurse-to-patient ratio in most health care facilities in Ghana, the expected result is increased levels of stress among health staff [32]. Overall, the key implication is that most countries in SSA will not be able to attain the WHO’s recommendation of nurse-patient ratio of 1:300; and thus further increase episodes of emotional exhaustion and decreased quality of care to patients in this part of the world [33‐35].

Complains of inadequate recognition from clients and their relations and the larger society as a whole usually serve as the main cause of nurses’ emotional exhaustion. Additionally, some health care practitioners also experience emotional exhaustion in a form of despair when their patients relapse or their condition deteriorate despite the amount of time and quality of care provided to them [36]. Importantly, it has been an established fact that challenges of role ambiguity of nurses who are promoted without adequate training on their new roles usually cause an upsurge in job burdens. Such situations increase the amount of work by nurses; and inadequate human and material resources to perform these roles result in emotional exhaustion [37]. Emotional fatigue compromises nursing care; thus delay in the recuperating time of patients and avoidable deaths; and also affect nurses’ loyalty to an organisation thereby increasing turnover intentions [38].

Emotional exhaustion among nurses in Ghana has not been given considerable attention, as most studies are directed towards other work-related risks with emphasis placed primarily on healthcare professionals in general. Besides, in circumstances where it has been studied, it is generally restricted to a few categories of nurses; therefore, the trends among the broad segment of nursing workforce cannot be evaluated. Additionally, in order to ameliorate the hazards caused by emotional exhaustion, and its compounding effects on job satisfaction, quality nursing care and turnover intention; it would be appropriate for nurse researchers to devote more attention to undertaking studies that will holistically assess this concept. The study therefore, aimed at assessing rate of emotional exhaustion, determining the factors that accounts for it and also ascertaining the coping strategies used to overcome it among Ghanaian nurses.

The study aimed at assessing rate of emotional exhaustion at the practice environment, establishing it determinants and the coping strategies used by nurses to overcome it. It was done among various categories of nursing staff. Most practice environments present occupational threats to the nurse; among factors accounting for such threats are undesirable experience from discomfort and death of patients, conflicts with colleagues and other health professionals, and the absence of support from nurse managers. The nursing profession has therefore been categorised as a risk job for burnout (emotional exhaustion). The study reported higher level of emotional exhaustion (mean = 31.244) with most nurses (n = 209, 90.1%) affirming it as indicated in Table 1. Similar studies undertaken at the Sub-Saharan African regions posit that high rates of burnout in a form of emotional exhaustion among nurses and midwives; and are usually attributed to work environments, work conflicts, and lack of social support [31, 47] Other researchers found emotional exhaustion among nurses working in health care facilities in South Africa [48], Ethiopia [49] and Nigeria [50]. It is well established that job stresses results from unsupportive practice environment, and it may affect the nurses’ satisfaction, turnover intentions and the quality of care delivery to patients [51]. The high incidence of emotional exhaustion (90.1%) is consistent with happening in health facilities as most nurses are exposed to stressful challenges in the course of their work such as providing palliative care to end-of-life stages of patients, as well as managing grieving process during death of patient. Again, extremely huge workloads from ones job as a result of the unsupportive work environment can also account for this phenomenon [51, 52]. In other settings, it is reported that high level of abuse from patients and their relatives and some senior members of the health team, dissatisfaction with salaries, limited opportunities for professional improvement and inadequate nurses’ participation in decision making in the hospital account for increased pace of emotional exhaustion among nurses; as these factors devalue the role nurses play in the health care set-up and this can affect them emotionally [9, 53, 54]. Though, much has not been done to curtail emotional exhaustion among nurses in Ghana, effective leadership from nurse managers, monetary compensation from employers [55] and dynamic support from co-workers on daily basis at work place [35] can efficiently decrease this dimension of burnout among nurses in the near future.

The results support the fact that socio-demographic characteristics and facets of professional practice environment of nurses together are predictive of emotional exhaustion (adjusted R² = 0.396). Regular upgrade of nurses through promotion to higher grades and ensuring nurses’ professional practice environment are vital to developing resilience in managing emotional exhaustion at the work place [56‐58].

Additionally, nurses’ perceptions of emotional exhaustion are affected by staffing and resource adequacy in the work place (B = -0.212), suggesting that improving staffing and resources in the hospital can reduce emotional exhaustion of nurses by almost third through improving the quantity and quality of nursing human resources and medical equipment used in managing patients. Our findings are consistent with [59, 60] who concluded that poor staffing and resource inadequacy in practice environment are associated with emotional exhaustion of nurses. Institutional policies to enhance adequate staffing and material resources aimed at improving the welfare of nursing staff will have a very important role in reducing emotional exhaustion.

Nursing as a profession expects participation and greater capacity in decision-making in the clients’ care delivery. Therefore, cultivating the spirit of teamwork between health professionals and involving nurses in the management of the health facility would go a long way to eradicate emotional exhaustion and also increase nurses’ self-esteem in health care settings. The current study also found nurse participation in hospital affairs to be significantly predicted with emotional exhaustion (B = -0.270). This is consistent with a study which identified that nurses demonstrate more confident when they are involved in collective decision making in health facilities, more so when their professional roles are recognized. Again, work place where nurses and other health professional mutually perform their roles advertently provides foundation for teamwork and enhanced job outcomes [61]. Nurses’ emotional exhaustion can lead to an upsurge of scarcity of nurses, and the consequent poor nursing care delivery to patients. It is, therefore, imperative and critical for health care managers to tackle issues of nurses’ involvement in hospital affairs.

Emotional exhaustion is high in work environment where nurses perceive that their nurse manager are not able to provide adequate leadership and support (B = -0.132) for advancement of the nursing profession. Poor perception of the nurse manager ability, leadership and support for nurses corresponds with increase in rates of emotional exhaustion among nurses, as support for most of the stresses nurse encounter is limited. As noted by [62], nursing leadership is valued and respected by subordinates as they expect a great deal of support from their leadership. When nursing leaders fail in their role at influencing nurses’ daily work practice and promoting their welfare through the creation of a positive practice environment; there is always emotional strains on nurses. It is imperative that health facilities find effective approaches to advancing the development and retention of experienced nurse manager to enhance implementation of mechanisms to reduce emotional exhaustion among nurses.

It is an established fact that positive nurse–physician relation at health facilities produces better outcomes for the nurse [63]. A negative correlation was found between nurse-physician relation and emotional exhaustion. It is significant for health care managers, physicians and nurses to ensure efficient communication, mutual support and readiness to compromise having an insightful outcome on teamwork between players in the health care setting. The need to develop ways of building professional respect for team players, promoting productive contact between nurses and physicians and increasing the ability of nursing staff to participate in decision making can go a long way to reduce emotional exhaustion at the work place.

The findings of this study are similar with [64], which suggested the use of a positive coping approach in the form of positive re-appraisal and firmness by attempting to see positive aspects of every challenge and also anxiety reduction approaches by performing recreational activities as remedies for successful stress management. Participating in leisure activities and having an active social life and conversation with relations, friends and peers relieve stress while also elevating the individual’s mood to confront the challenges encountered. As reported, conflict resolution tool of ‘compromise’ was also identified as a means of addressing the emotional exhaustion arising from workplace conflict [65]; and this position is consistent with the study findings. It is significant to note that in order to effectively cope with emotional exhaustion at the workplace, the use of both emotion-focused (e.g. reduction of anxiety and positive re-appraisal) and problem-focused approaches (communicating feeling and support, finding alternative reinforcement) cannot be overlooked. In essence, nurses and nurse managers should identify the best available interventions to mitigate emotional exhaustion in course of their duty.

With far more than 90% of registered nurses experiencing moderate to high emotional exhaustion; it may compromise the quality care of patient. Initiatives such as improved support from nurse manager and good relationship between nurse and physician can positively minimize this phenomenon among nurses. It is also necessary to assess nursing staff’ workload in order to significantly reduce nurses’ emotional exhaustion related to their job-demand and also commit sufficient resources in the training of lower-ranking nurses on how to deal with emotional exhaustion. In an attempt to lessen emotional exhaustion, nurse managers should be accountable for ensuring and promoting reasonable safety in and out of the work environment. Analysing and mitigating risks measures in the sense of organizational structure is essential in building healthy nursing work environments. Furthermore, coping mechanisms when implemented on time can directly influence the interaction between the professional practice environment and the emotional exhaustion of nurses. Thus, when appropriate and effective intervention are employed, emotional exhaustion will be reduce and this will help enrich the quality of care delivered to patients.