Professional work not only meets existential needs but also fosters personal development and fulfillment. The nursing profession, rooted in the desire to help others, holds a unique place in this context (1). However, the number of people pursuing nursing education and entering the profession declines each year. Young people are discouraged by low prestige, high physical and mental demands, and inadequate compensation. Additionally, the aging nursing workforce further complicates recruitment and retention efforts (2). Given the vital role of nurses in therapeutic teams and their proportion in the healthcare workforce, it is essential to understand the factors contributing to professional burnout (3). Burnout leads to various individual and societal issues, including sleep disorders, behavioral problems, and disturbances in immune, digestive, and circulatory systems. It affects personal life, reduces work quality, increases medical errors and sick leave, and contributes to staffing shortages as many nurses leave the profession. In severe cases, burnout can result in addiction, depression, or suicide (4). ICU nurses are particularly vulnerable due to the high emotional demands of their work, including constant vigilance, time-pressured decisions, and frequent exposure to critical patient conditions. Prolonged stress and insufficient coping mechanisms increase the risk of burnout. Economic pressures, staffing shortages, shift work, and sleep deprivation further exacerbate the problem, contributing to higher rates of psychosomatic illnesses such as cancer and mental health disorders. Exploring the link between burnout and psychosomatic diseases is crucial, given the premature mortality in this profession (5).

The concept of professional burnout was first introduced in 1974 by American psychiatrist Freudenberger (6), who defined it as a decrease in an individual’s energy level, resulting from the overload of dealing with other people’s problems and the excessive demands placed by the work environment. Burnout is a state of fatigue or frustration arising from devoting oneself to a cause, lifestyle, or relationship that does not yield the expected rewards. In essence, failure to achieve a goal leads to discouragement and apathy (7). Burnout is a psychosocial phenomenon that arises as a response to chronic interpersonal stressors observed in the workplace. This syndrome reflects an ongoing process.

According to Maslach, burnout involves three key elements: loss of energy, where the individual feels overwhelmed, stressed, and exhausted; loss of enthusiasm, where cynicism replaces passion, patients are perceived as burdens, there is a sense of threat from superiors, and colleagues are seen as obstacles; and loss of confidence, as the lack of engagement and motivation makes it difficult to see the positive aspects of professional activity. Skills such as expertise, creativity, and empathy diminish, and the individual enters an energy-saving mode (8, 9).

Pines and Aronson define burnout as a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged involvement in emotionally demanding situations (10). What distinguishes burnout from other concepts, such as job-related stress, fatigue, alienation, depression, and existential crisis, is that burnout is always the final result of a gradual disillusionment with the idea of finding meaning in professional life. According to Pines, engagement in one’s work is understood as a factor contributing to fulfillment in the profession, mental wellbeing, and possessing the necessary competencies to perform duties in the workplace (11).

From another perspective, Cherniss linked burnout with changes in motivation, describing it as withdrawal from professional activity due to excessive stress or dissatisfaction with one’s job (12). According to him, burnout is caused by prolonged stress, leading to fatigue, impulsivity, and a feeling of tension. With burnout comes a loss of enthusiasm, commitment, and a sense of purpose, eventually resulting in isolation, emotional distancing from patients, and cynical or even abrasive behavior. Burnout is the body’s response to stress caused by the work environment, particularly when the job fails to provide satisfaction, when the employee is overloaded with responsibilities, faces excessive demands, or when the work becomes monotonous and boring. Stress from overwork leads to the burnout effect. A characteristic feature of those affected by burnout is the discrepancy between feeling competent and completely ineffective. These individuals lose engagement and see no value in their actions (13).

Schaufeli and Enzmann compared burnout syndrome to a battery that gradually discharges despite being supplied with energy, as more is drawn from it than it receives (4). Engagement in work is not commensurate with what the employee receives in return. According to the researchers, burnout is “a persistent, negative state related to work that occurs in generally healthy individuals. It is primarily characterized by exhaustion, accompanied by psychological and physical discomfort, a sense of decreased efficacy, reduced motivation, and dysfunctional attitudes and behaviors at work. This state develops gradually and stems from a mismatch between professional intentions and realities. Burnout is often a self-perpetuating process due to inadequate coping strategies” (14). Stress arises from various factors, typically categorized into three main stressors: physical, social, and psychological. Physical stressors disrupt the body’s equilibrium and include changes in temperature, pressure, humidity, noise, strong light, radiation, and vibrations. Social stressors are related to group life, especially in the workplace. Sources of stress in this context may include poor communication, lack of acceptance or understanding of norms, and flawed group structures. Stress can result from the communication style and a lack of proper interaction between employees and supervisors or among co-workers (15).

Psychological sources of stress are divided into four categories: disturbances, threats, overload, and deprivation. Disturbance occurs when specific circumstances force an individual to exert more effort. A threat is a situation where there is a likelihood of an accident, bodily harm, material, or moral loss. Threat-related stress can stem from a real situation or anticipated danger. Threats may be physical or social, linked to fulfilling multiple social roles, continuous competition, or being subjected to constant evaluation by others. Overload occurs when an individual performs tasks at the limit of their physical and mental capabilities. A form of overload is discomfort, such as working in unpleasant conditions. Deprivation is a state of chronic unfulfilled needs, which can occur in situations like being in shelters, psychiatric hospitals, submarines, or polar expeditions (16).

The conducted study demonstrated that age statistically significantly influences the level of burnout among nurses working in intensive care units (ICUs). The older the nurse, the greater the emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Age is an important factor in the development of mental disorders due to a decreased ability to adapt to stressful work conditions (22). In the study by Liao et al. (23) older nurses had a higher burnout index compared to younger ones. However, researchers conducting a study in Brazil reached different conclusions, showing that nurses with <5 years of experience experienced burnout more frequently. Younger and less experienced nurses were more prone to burnout, often feeling unprepared for their professional duties (24). In addition to age, another statistically significant factor in burnout is years of work experience, both in the profession and in ICUs. Our study revealed that professional experience correlates with burnout—the longer the work experience, the higher the levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Similar conclusions were drawn by other authors (25–28), confirming that older nurses with longer work experience more frequently experience burnout syndrome. Other authors (29) found no statistically significant relationship between burnout and years of work experience. Our study confirmed that ICU work experience statistically significantly correlated with emotional exhaustion levels. In the other study (30) nurses with longer experience in anesthesiology and intensive care reported lower job satisfaction than those with shorter tenures. Wieder-Huszla et al. (31) found that nursing staff exhibited symptoms of burnout across all three dimensions, with depersonalization being more prominent in nurses with shorter work experience. Studies by foreign authors have demonstrated statistically significant correlations between age, work experience, and burnout (32–40).

The available literature provides conflicting data on this topic. Some studies confirm that older age and longer work experience are associated with higher burnout levels, while others suggest the opposite — younger individuals with less experience higher burnout. Age and work experience among ICU nurses remain an open issue, requiring further research. In our study, sex was not found to have a statistically significant effect on burnout, which aligns with the findings of other authors (41, 42). Other authors (43) found that education level and the number of completed training courses increased feelings of personal accomplishment and reduced emotional exhaustion. Similar conclusions were drawn in our study, where respondents with higher education exhibited lower levels of burnout. However, in the other research (44), authors reported different results, showing that higher education among nurses was associated with increased burnout. Another variable considered in the study was the work schedule. Our findings showed no statistically significant impact of this variable on burnout levels, differing from Boateng et al. (45), who indicated that frequent night shifts contributed to burnout. The study by Salem and Ebrahem (46) demonstrated that shift work, weekend work, and long working hours worsened burnout, with night shifts and aging being contributing factors to burnout among ICU nurses in Spain. In the RN4CAST project, Dall’Ora et al. (47) found that nurses working 12-h shifts or longer experienced burnout more frequently compared to those working 8-h shifts or less. Moreover, job satisfaction decreased as shift length increased. This apparent paradox — where nurses prefer 12-h shifts but experience lower job satisfaction — may be explained by the cumulative negative effects of long shifts, which nurses may not be fully aware of or attribute to shift work.

One of the conclusions of the study by other authors (48) is that shift work can cause hormonal disturbances and decreased sexual activity, though age was not a determinant among the nurses surveyed. In our study, we found no statistically significant influence of residence location or marital status on burnout levels. Similar findings were reported by other authors (27, 30). However, the study by Cañadas-De la Fuente et al. (49) showed that being single or divorced contributed to higher levels of burnout. A study conducted in Nigeria found that sociodemographic factors were not statistically significantly related to burnout among nurses (50).

Nursing staff working in ICUs are at risk of experiencing burnout, which can lower the quality of patient care (30). In our study, the overall burnout index averaged 39.78 points out of 100. Emotional exhaustion was the main contributor to burnout among nurses (53.03 points), followed by depersonalization (39.79 points), with lack of personal achievement being the lowest contributor (26.51 points). As early as 2007, Chmura et al. (51) reported that ICU nurses most frequently reported experiencing burnout. Freeborn (52), in their study of burnout among nurses, also found relatively high levels of burnout among ICU nurses.

The study highlights that emotional exhaustion is the most significant contributor to burnout among ICU nurses, followed by depersonalization and lack of job satisfaction. Key sociodemographic factors influencing burnout include older age, longer work experience, and higher education levels. Nurses with longer tenures in ICUs tend to experience higher levels of burnout, particularly in emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Additionally, increased perceived stress levels correlate with higher burnout. However, nurses who employ constructive stress-coping strategies exhibit lower levels of burnout.

Given these findings, healthcare institutions should prioritize the implementation of targeted stress management and coping strategy training programs for ICU nurses, particularly for those with longer work experience and higher stress levels. Such interventions could help reduce emotional exhaustion and prevent burnout, thereby improving both nurse wellbeing and the quality of patient care.