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Background Emotional exhaustion is a core component of burnout, linked to poor nurse well-being and negative patient outcomes. In Canada, where nurse burnout has risen sharply, there is limited evidence tracking changes across healthcare sectors over time. This study addresses that gap to inform workforce and policy interventions. Purpose To examine trends in emotional exhaustion and perceptions of quality and safety among nurses in British Columbia working in acute care, long-term care, and community care settings over three time points: 2015, 2019, and 2020. Methods We conducted a secondary analysis of three cross-sectional surveys of nurses in BC. The analytic sample included 8,412 nurses. Emotional exhaustion was measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and quality and safety outcomes were assessed using validated RN4CAST indicators. Survey year was the key independent variable; six demographic and professional characteristics were included as controls. Linear regression was used for emotional exhaustion and ordered logistic regression for ordinal outcomes. Results Nurses' emotional exhaustion demonstrated a two-fold increase from 2015 to 2019 and a four-fold increase from 2015 to 2020. While nurses’ ratings of all quality and safety measures improved from 2015 to 2020, only their ratings of last shift and general quality of care improved between 2015 to 2019. Conclusion The observed increase in nurses’ emotional exhaustion over time likely reflects the cumulative impact of persistent system pressures and escalating workloads, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Incorporating measures of burnout into Canada's health workforce dashboards would inform more targeted, data-driven strategies for sustainable health workforce planning.
Havaei et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
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