What is the correlation between presence, burnout and the practice environment of nurses?
Mr Marcel Mather completed a masters degree study, in which he looked at the relationship between presence, burnout in nurses and the practice environment of nurses. He argued that knowing more about this relationship will enable the development of strategies to curb burnout and improve the practice environment of nurses.
Mr Mather was particularly interested in the context of a psychiatric hospital, as such an environment poses challenges in terms of burnout and the practice environment of nurses.
What was encouraging, is that he found that even though nurses may experience burnout, and even though they experience their practice environment as difficult, they were still willing to practice presence.
 Based on this finding, Mr Mather formulated valuable recommendations. He recommends that nurses should be supported and encouraged to practice presence, namely to ‘be with’ and ‘be for’ the patients in their care. It is also very recommended that nursing management practice presence, in order that they actively listen to the needs and concerns of nurses. This will not only limit burnout, but also lead to a happier practice environment.
He further recommends that further research and policy development regarding presence, burnout and the practice environment is urgently needed, especially in the context of psychiatric / mental health care.
For more information on this study, Mr Mather can be contacted through presence4goodcare@gmail.com
