Occupational Burnout, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Intention to Resign Among Nursing Personnel During Public Health Emergencies.

Publication date: Jul 01, 2026

Studies have shown that nursing staff are prone to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), occupational burnout and turnover tendency in public health emergencies, but the incidence of these three and their influencing factors during the outbreak of COVID-19 have not been clarified. The aim of this study was to explore the mediating mechanism of occupational burnout between PTSD and turnover intention in nursing staff in public health emergencies. The study was a cross-sectional survey involving 1087 nursing personnels from 17 provinces in China. Convenience sampling was employed to select nursing personnel from frontline clinical settings in 17 Chinese provinces from March to May 2023. After excluding 13 invalid questionnaires, 1087 valid questionnaires were obtained, resulting in an overall validity rate of 98. 8%. Civilian version of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Questionnaire (PCL-C), Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS) and Turnover Intention Questionnaire (TIQ) were used respectively. Post-traumatic stress symptoms, occupational burnout and turnover tendency were assessed. Ethical review approval: Approval unit: Medical Ethics Committee of Beijing Huilongguan Hospital; Approval number: 2023-23-Science and Technology. 15. 8% of nursing personnel had PTSD, 71. 8% had occupational burnout and 63. 7% had turnover intention. The scores of occupational burnout and turnover intention of nursing personnel with PTSD were higher than those without PTSD. Each dimension of PTSD was positively correlated with all dimensions of occupational burnout and nurse resignation (all p 

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