STAFF BURNOUT AND ABSENTEEISM THROUGH SERVICE TRANSITION: FROM HOSPITAL TO HOSTEL

Residential nursing staff were asked to complete the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) each month for a total of six months throughout a service transition involving the move of a group of men with profound learning disabilities, some with additional challenging behaviours, from two hospital wards to a community-living orientated hostel. The MBI was used to measure the effect on staff of the intense reorganisation in their working environment. Significant increases in Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalisation, and a (non significant) decrease in Personal Accomplishment were found during the transition. Levels reverted to baseline following the move, but burnout remained above the mean of a previously published study, for two of the three dimensions. Levels of absenteeism largely mirrored the pattern of the MBI scores, with a one-month lapse between high burnout and high absenteeism, supporting previous research indicating an association between the two.