The occurrence of nurse burnout, which could affect the quality of nursing, largely depends on the characteristics of a hospital department. An operating room (OR) environment comes with a high possibility of nurses committing errors, and OR nurses respect the value of patient safety and perform their safety management duties as needed. Although patient safety culture in an OR might affect OR nurse burnout, there is insufficient evidence to show such an association.

This cross-sectional study was conducted in a hospital in Seoul, South Korea in 2019. One-hundred and twenty-two OR nurses completed the Safety Attitude Questionnaire Korean version 2 and Maslach Burnout Inventory that measured perceived levels of patient safety culture and burnout, respectively.

Correlation analyses found that lower burnout was significantly associated with better patient safety culture. Through a multiple regression, the predictors of emotional exhaustion in patient safety culture identified were job satisfaction (β=−.524, p=.000) and working conditions (β=−.282, p=.015). Working conditions predicted depersonalization (β=−.323, p=.009), while job satisfaction predicted lack of personal accomplishment (β=−.250, p=.004). Meanwhile, years in the unit (β=−.397, p=.001) predicted lack of personal accomplishment.

These results suggest an important role for two dimensions of patient safety culture in mitigating burnout among OR nurses. It would be effective to improve working conditions in ORs by reducing the nurse-patient ratio, and to enhance job satisfaction among OR nurses by securing resources introduced by the conservation of resources theory.