In this study, we suggest that burnout is an
important mediating mechanism between nursing
worklife conditions and patient safety outcomes.
Burnout is a common phenomenon in nursing and
other health professions. Maslach and Leiter18(p17)
define burnout as ‘‘the index of the dislocation
between what people are and what they have to do.
It represents an erosion in values, dignity, spirit and
willVan erosion of the human soul. It is a malady
that spreads gradually and continuously over time,
putting people into a downward spiral from which
it is hard to recover.’’ Burnout comprises chronic
emotional exhaustion, cynicism and detachment
from work, and feelings of ineffectiveness on the
job. A major source of burnout is an overloaded
work schedule, that is, having too little time and
too few resources to accomplish the job. Lack of
control (eg, a situation in which reducing costs
becomes more important than meeting client or