Background As the role of a health care system’s influence on nurse burnout becomes better understood, an under-standing of the impact of a nurses’ work environment on burnout and well-being is also imperative. Objective To identify the key elements of a healthy work environment associated with burnout, secondary trauma, and compassion satisfaction, as well as the effect of burnout and the work environment on nurse turnover. Methods A total of 779 nurses in 24 critical care units at 13 hospitals completed a survey measuring burnout and quality of the work environment. Actual unit-level data for nurse turnover during a 5-month period were queried and compared with the survey results. Results Among nurses in the sample, 61% experience moderate burnout. In models controlling for key nurse characteristics including age, level of education, and professional recognition, 3 key elements of the work environment emerged as significant predictors of burnout: staffing, meaningful recognition, and effective decision-making. The latter 2 elements also predicted more compassion satisfaction among critical care nurses. In line with previous research, these findings affirm that younger age is associated with more burnout and less compassion satisfaction. Conclusions Efforts are recommended on these 3 elements of the work environment (staffing, meaningful recognition, effective decision-making) as part of a holistic, systems-based approach to addressing burnout and well-being. Such efforts, in addition to supporting personal resilience-building activities, should be undertaken especially with younger members of the workforce in order to begin to address the crisis of burnout in health care.

Background Patients who receive prolonged endotracheal intubation (> 48 hours) are at risk for dysphagia. Nurses should conduct swallowing assessments after extubation because of the high likelihood of aspiration pneumonia developing. No valid and reliable postextubation dysphagia screening tools are available. Objectives To establish content validity, analyze interrater reliability, and determine sensitivity and specificity of an evidence-based postextubation dysphagia screening tool developed by a multidisciplinary team. Methods A prospective nonexperimental study was conducted in 4 medical-surgical intensive care units in 4 hospitals. The study was conducted in 3 phases: (1) establishing content validity with clinical experts who participated in a Delphi survey, (2) establishing inter-rater reliability by agreement with nurses who simultaneously and independently completed the tool, and (3) establishing sensitivity and specificity with speech language pathologists and nurses who independently and blindly completed the tool for eligible patients. Results Individual item scores were > 0.82 and the overall content validity index was 0.93, indicating content validity. Interrater reliability was established (Cohen κ = 0.92). In 66 eligible patients, the prevalence of postextubation dysphagia was 56%, sensitivity of the postextubation dysphagia screening tool was 81%, and specificity was 69%. Conclusion The reliability and validity of a postextubation dysphagia screening tool that can help nurses determine an extubated patient’s ability to swallow after prolonged endotracheal intubation were established.