BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Occupational Health and Safety
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1648696
This article is part of the Research TopicNurse Fatigue: Investigating Burnout, Health Risks, and Prevention StrategiesView all 12 articles
Emotional Exhaustion Among Operating Room and General Ward Nurses: Evidence from a Regional Hospital in Taiwan
Provisionally accepted
- 1Guangzhou College of Commerce, Guangzhou, China
- 2HungKuang University, Shalu District, Taiwan
- 3National Changhua University of Education, Changhua City, Taiwan
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This study examined differences in emotional exhaustion (EE) among nurses working in operating rooms (ORs) and general wards (GWs) at a regional teaching hospital in Taiwan. A total of 263 nurses completed the EE subscale of the Chinese Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (CSAQ).Results showed that OR nurses consistently reported significantly higher EE levels than GW nurses, especially regarding fatigue, emotional depletion, and interpersonal strain. Among GW nurses, older and mid-career individuals exhibited significantly higher EE scores, suggesting an age-related cumulative burden. Independent samples t-tests and ANOVA were applied to identify group differences. Gender, educational attainment, and managerial role were not significantly associated with EE levels. These findings highlight the combined impact of clinical unit context and individual demographics on nurse well-being. Healthcare organizations are advised to implement targeted interventions, such as stress debriefing for OR teams and long-term support for mid-career or senior GW nurses, to reduce EE and promote psychological resilience.
Keywords: Emotional exhaustion, Operating room, General ward, Nurses, Regional Hospital
Received: 17 Jun 2025; Accepted: 29 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Huang, Lee, Wu and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yii-Ching Lee, HungKuang University, Shalu District, Taiwan
Hsin-Hung Wu, National Changhua University of Education, Changhua City, Taiwan
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