Graduation Semester and Year
Spring 2026
Language
English
Document Type
DNP Project
Degree Name
Doctor of Nursing Practice
Department
Nursing
First Advisor
Deborah Behan
Abstract
Abstract
Problem: Burnout among nurses, especially in psychiatric mental health units, significantly impacts both their well-being and the quality of patient care. Despite its severity, with approximately 30% of nurses worldwide affected and contributing to a 31.5% nurse turnover rate (Ge et al., 2023), there are limited formal guidelines specifically targeting nurse burnout prevention in the mental health setting. The issue is particularly acute in the United States, where 91.1% of psychiatric nurses report experiencing burnout, compared to 79.9% of other healthcare professionals (Anger et al., 2024). In the local unit 38.05% have experienced burnout.
Purpose: The PICOTS for this project is: How does the implementation of a psychiatric nurse retention bundle guideline (I), compared to the absence of a current guideline (C), using graded literature and stakeholder-ranked recommendations, impact nurse burnout levels (O) over eight weeks (T) in a mental health unit (S)?
Methods/Intervention: Key stakeholders, including registered nurses (RNs, PAs, NPs, DNPs, MDs, nurse managers, and mental health specialists, were involved in reviewing and grading evidence-based recommendations. Descriptive statistics were used to measure stakeholder feedback and the effectiveness of the proposed recommendations for this guideline.
Result: Findings indicate five evidence-based recommendations are statistically significant and have been rated by stakeholders for effectiveness in preventing burnout and improving job satisfaction among healthcare professionals working in psychiatric mental health units.
Conclusion: The guideline will be provided to the executive team to guide how to prevent burnout, leading to improved nurse retention and enhanced patient care in psychiatric mental health settings.
Keywords
Nurse burnout, Mental health units, Nurse retention, Burnout education, Self-care resources, Self-care practices, Physical activities, Mindfulness exercises, Peer support, Psychiatric nursing, Evidence-based guidelines, Nurse well-being
Disciplines
Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Irabor, Festus, "Guideline for a Burnout Bundle for Nurses in Psychiatric Mental Health Units" (2026). Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Scholarly Projects. 119.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/nursing_dnpprojects/119