At KNH, most nurses (98 per cent) reported taking only one annual leave a year.
Nursing may be one of Kenya’s most popular
careers, but few practitioners find it as fulfilling as they once dreamt.
A new study shows more than half of nurses report feeling drained, overwhelmed and questioning their choice of profession.
At the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), 52 per cent of
nurses say they are already suffering burnout, with married nurses showing the
highest levels of stress.
Researchers from the Ministry of Health and the Jomo Kenyatta
University of Agriculture and Technology (Jkuat) interviewed 308 nurses at KNH and
58 per cent even showed signs of cynicism.
Marriage, often assumed to be a source of emotional support, is
one of the strongest predictors for female nurses.
The researchers published the findings in the Open Journal of
Epidemiology.
“Individuals who are married have 2.31 times higher odds of
experiencing emotional exhaustion compared to those who are not married. This
relationship is statistically significant,” the ministry and Jkuat said.
They suggested that constant balancing act between demanding
shifts and domestic expectations intensifies stress and fatigue.
That is because for many Kenyan female nurses, responsibilities
do not end when hospital shifts do. The result is a cycle of chronic overwork,
little rest and creeping emotional detachment.
The study also highlights the hospital’s relatively young and
inexperienced nursing staff. Nearly three in every four KNH nurses (74.7 per
cent) are under 40 and more than half (58.8 per cent) have worked there for
less than five years.
That means many are still learning to navigate high patient loads,
life-and-death emergencies and long night shifts at Kenya’s busiest referral
facility.
The hospital has a capacity of 2,400 beds and attends to an
annual number of 949,000 inpatients and 800,000 outpatients.
It has a workforce of about 6,000 people, about 2,000 of whom
are nurses.
The authors cautioned that while younger nurses often bring
energy and passion, they are also more susceptible to emotional exhaustion.
“Some scholars contend that younger nurses, especially those in
their first years of service, are more susceptible to emotional exhaustion and
depersonalisation, especially in under-resourced and high-pressure environments
typical of tertiary care facilities in Kenya,” they said.
Mwakondja Jeomba, an environmental health practitioner from
Jkuat, led the study.
It is titled, “Individual Factors Influencing Occupational
Burnout among Nurses at Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya.”
The findings echo global trends. Globally, burnout symptoms
among nurses were reported at a rate of 11.23 per cent last year, with
significant variations across different geographical regions. The sub-Saharan
African region exhibits the highest prevalence of burnout symptoms, while the
Europe and Central Asia regions have the lowest.
Jeomba’s team also found that lifestyle choices mattered, too.
Smokers were five times more likely to experience emotional exhaustion, while
those who exercise regularly are less likely to suffer burnout.
Burnout manifests as fatigue, irritability or emotional
numbness. Fatigued staff are more likely to make errors, take sick leave or
quit altogether, the authors said.
At KNH, most nurses (98 per cent) reported taking only one
annual leave a year and 15 per cent work more than 40 hours weekly.
The study observes that resource constraints, patient acuity and
high patient volumes can drive rapid burnout.
The authors recommended flexible scheduling for married staff,
gender-responsive stress-management training and culturally sensitive spiritual
support.
They also urged hospital leaders to integrate wellness
initiatives such as exercise programmes and smoking cessation support.
“The Ministry of Health should mandate hospital
psychological support systems, allocate resources fairly to decrease burden,
and include burnout evaluations in occupational health policy,” they said.
