Abstract
Objective: Every day, health workers are endangered by both physical and psychological injuries. While physical safety at work is well controlled and ensured by employers, much less attention is paid to psychological safety.
The main objective of the study was to determine the level of psychological safety at work in general nurses and its relationship to burnout syndrome. Material and Methods: In late 2014 and early 2015, a quantitative questionnaire survey was conducted on a sample of 275 general nurses working in four hospitals in the Czech Republic.
Data were collected using a questionnaire battery consisting of the standardized Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and a scale to measure psychological safety. A part of current research was also the lingvistic validation of the scale to measure psychological safety in the Czech language.
Results: The survey results showed significantly negative relationships between emotional exhaustion and psychological safety at work (r = -0.181**, see Table 2) and between depersonalization and psychological safety (r = -0.256**, see Table 2), and a weak positive relationship between personal accomplishment and psychological safety (r = 0.078*, see Table 2). Statistical analyses also showed that respondents with confirmed burnout in emotional exhaustion (p < 0.001) and depersonalization (p < 0.001) dimensions had significantly lower levels of psychological safety.
Significantly higher level of psychological safety had non-burned out respondents in personal accomplishment (p = 0.001). Conclusions: A safe working environment is one of the key prerequisites for the well-being of health workers and one of the necessary preconditions for providing high-quality health care.
Health service managers should aim not only at maintaining physical safety at work but also at ensuring an optimum level of psychological safety.