Background & Aim: Job burnout is common in caring professionals; and high levels of the same are registered in healthcare professionals, especially, nurses in intensive care units. The purpose of this study was to determine the burnout among nurses working in intensive care units affiliated to educational and therapeutic centers of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences.
Method: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study, which was undergone through a census sampling method in hospitals related to Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (n = 80) in the year 2011. Data were collected by Maslach Job Wear Inventory (MBI). The data were analyzed using SPSS 11.5 software.
Results: The mean of severity of depersonalization, emotional analysis and lack of individual success were 9.20 ± 5.25, 25.32 ± 12.57, 35 ± 8.27 respectively. In addition, age (r=-0.49) and work experience(r=-0.48) have a reverse linear relationship with the severity of the lack of individual success (p = 0.001).
Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that there is a high level of occupational burnout, especially in the aspect of individual inefficiency among nurses in special departments. Due to the high importance of these departments, more attention must be paid by the authorities to this workforce. Moreover, nurses should also be allowed to participate in organizational decision-making, which can prevent burnout and its complications to a high degree. 
 

Keywords: Job burnout, nurses, intensive care units

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