post-traumatic stress disorder among frontline nurses during the covid-19 pandemic and its relationship with occupational burnout

Objective: this study aimed to determine the level of post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd) among nurses and its relationship with occupational burnout. method: this online cross-sectional survey was conducted from late november to early january 2020 in six hospitals in iran. 309 frontline nurses in covid-19 wards were selected via stratified random sampling and asked to complete a sociodemographic questionnaire, the impact of event scale-revised version (ies-r), and the maslach burnout inventory–human services survey (mbi-hss) in an anonymous online survey. data management and analysis were performed in spss 25.0 using descriptive and inferential statistics, including pearson’s correlation coefficient, independent samples t-test, anova, and linear regression. results: the majority of the participants were women (81.6%) with a mean ± sd age of 31.56 ± 6.42 years. the mean ± sd of the total ptsd score was 39.2 ± 16.44 years, indicating severe ptsd among nurses. the mean ± sd of the total occupational burnout score was 82.77 ± 19.38, expressing moderate burnout. the findings also demonstrated a significant moderate correlation between ptsd and occupational burnout (r = 0.363, p < 0.001). univariate analysis revealed a significant relationship of occupational burnout with ptsd, work experience, number of night shifts per month, and employment status (p < 0.05). however, in multivariate analysis, only ptsd had a positive and significant relationship with occupational burnout (p < 0.001; r2 = 160; β = 0.339) and was a predicting factor for it. conclusion: we found that both ptsd and burnout are common among nurses. given the role of ptsd especially as a predictor of burnout and the significant impact of these disorders on occupational and non-occupational activities, immediate and appropriate measures are necessary to monitor and reduce their effects on the nurses who are at the forefront of fighting the pandemic