Exploring Prevalence and Implications of Burnout Among Nurse Practitioners in Canada
Keywords:
Nurse practitioners, NPs, burnout, intention to leave, practice autonomy
Abstract
Aims and Scope: Nurse Practitioners are experiencing unprecedented levels of burnout exacerbated by factors unique to this professional group. Additional factors include undervalued professional worth, lack of autonomy, and organizational and systems pressures. This study was conducted to explore NP Burnout in Canada. Methods: The NP Burnout Survey, designed to capture the unique factors impacting NP burnout, was delivered to 229 NPs across Canada. Responses underwent descriptive and binomial logistic regression analysis. Findings: More than one third of NPs are experiencing high levels of burnout. NPs with high burnout are 17 times more likely to leave their position and 66 times more likely to leave the profession. Conclusion: Urgent attention and viable solutions are required to mitigate NP’s exodus from the profession. Addressing the issues impacting NP burnout will ensure that this profession will meet their full potential in Canada’s healthcare system.
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References
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22. West, C. P., Dyrbye, L. N., & Shanafelt, T. D. (2018). Physician burnout: Contributors, consequences and solutions. Journal of Internal Medicine, 283(6), 516–529. https://doi.org/10.1111/joim.12752
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2. Athey, E. K., Leslie, M. S., Briggs, L. A., Park, J., Falk, N. L., Pericak, A., El‐Banna, M. M., & Greene, J. (2016). How important are autonomy and work setting to nurse practitioners’ job satisfaction? Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 28(6), 320–326. https://doi.org/10.1002/2327-6924.12292
3. Bill 203, Keeping Primary Care Fair Act (Restricting Private Payments for Nurse Practitioner Services), 2024, Bill 203. https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-43/session-1/bill-203
4. Bourdeanu, L., Zhou, Q. P., DeSamper, M., Pericak, K. A., & Pericak, A. (2020). Burnout, workplace factors, and intent to leave among hematology/oncology nurse practitioners. Journal of the Advanced Practitioner in Oncology, 11(2), 141–148. https://doi.org/10.6004/jadpro.2020.11.2.2
5. Brom, H. M., Melnyk, B. M., Szalacha, L. A., & Graham, M. (2016). Nurse practitioners’ role perception, stress, satisfaction, and intent to stay at a Midwestern academic medical center. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 28(5), 269–276. https://doi.org/10.1002/2327-6924.12278
6. Canadian Nurses Association. (n.d.). Nurse Practitioners. What are nurse practitioners. Retrieved from: https://www.cna-aiic.ca/en/nursing/advanced-nursing-practice/nurse-practitioners#:~:text=Nurse%20practitioners%20(NPs)%20are%20registered,Perform%20medical%20procedures
7. Chen, Y. J., & Lin, K. P. (2022). Association among work characteristics, role transition, and job burnout in nurse practitioners in Taiwan. INQUIRY: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing, 59, 004695802210814. https://doi.org/10.1177/00469580221081403
8. Edwards, S. T., Marino, M., Balasubramanian, B. A., Solberg, L. I., Valenzuela, S., Springer, R., Stange, K. C., Miller, W. L., Kottke, T. E., Perry, C. K., Ono, S., & Cohen, D. J. (2018). burnout among physicians, advanced practice clinicians and staff in smaller primary Care practices. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 33(12), 2138–2146. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-018-4679-0
9. Faraz, A. (2017). Novice nurse practitioner workforce transition and turnover intention in primary care. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 29(1), 26–34. https://doi.org/10.1002/2327-6924.12381
10. Hagan, J., & Curtis, D. L. (2018). Predictors of nurse practitioner retention. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 30(5), 280–284. https://doi.org/10.1097/JXX.0000000000000049
11. Heale, R. (2021). Theory of the evolution of nurse practitioner practice. Nurse Practitioner Open Journal, 1(1), 23–36. https://doi.org/10.28984/npoj.v1i1.340
12. Heale, R., & Twycross, A. (2015). Validity and reliability in quantitative studies. Evidence Based Nursing, 18(3), 66–67. https://doi.org/10.1136/eb-2015-102129
13. XXXXX. (unpublished). An Exploration of the Unique Factors Contributing to NP Burnout. Unpublished.
14. Jones, A. (2024, March 15). Ontario has to pay public sector workers $6B and counting in Bill 124 compensation. The Canadian Press.
15. Laerd Statistics. (2018). Cronbach’s Alpha (α) using SPSS Statistics. Laerd Statistics. https://statistics.laerd.com/spss-tutorials/cronbachs-alpha-using-spss-statistics.php
16. MacMillan, S. (2024, March 1). Murky rules for nurse practitioners give rise to private clinics in Ontario Clinics are popping up across the province, says Nurse Practitioners’ Association of Ontario. CBC News.
17. Madley-Dowd, P., Hughes, R., Tilling, K., & Heron, J. (2019). The proportion of missing data should not be used to guide decisions on multiple imputation. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 110, 63–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2019.02.016
18. Nelson, J. (n.d.). A silent struggle: Medscape nurse practitioner burnout & depression report 2024. Medscape Nurses. https://www.medscape.com/slideshow/2024-np-burnout-rpt-6017518#2
19. Nemoto, T., & Beglar, D. (2013). Developing likert-scale questionnaires. JALT2013 Conference Proceedings. https://jalt-publications.org/files/pdf-article/jalt2013_001.pdf
20. Roff, S., McAleer, S., & Skinner, A. (2005). Development and validation of an instrument to measure the postgraduate clinical learning and teaching educational environment for hospital-based junior doctors in the UK. Medical Teacher, 27(4), 326–331. https://doi.org/10.1080/01421590500150874
21. Tanya Schlemmer. (2020). Nurse practitioner occupational burnout: A focus on the variables and themes. International Journal of Nursing and Health Care Research. https://doi.org/10.29011/2688-9501.101160
22. West, C. P., Dyrbye, L. N., & Shanafelt, T. D. (2018). Physician burnout: Contributors, consequences and solutions. Journal of Internal Medicine, 283(6), 516–529. https://doi.org/10.1111/joim.12752
23. World Health Organization. (2019). Burn‐out an “occupational phenomenon:” international classification of diseases. https://www.who.int/mental_health/evidence/burn-out/en/
Published
2025-01-28
How to Cite
Heale, R. (2025). Exploring Prevalence and Implications of Burnout Among Nurse Practitioners in Canada. European Scientific Journal, ESJ, 37, 391. Retrieved from https://eujournal.org/index.php/esj/article/view/19037
Section
ESI Preprints
Copyright (c) 2025 Roberta Heale
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
