Time Heals Some Wounds? Burnout but Not Secondary Traumatic Stress in Critical Care Nurses

Am J Crit Care. 2026 Sep 1;35(5):384-388. doi: 10.4037/ajcc2026573.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Burnout among new nurses has been widely documented. Less is known about how years of professional experience relate to distinct components of professional quality of life, including compassion satisfaction and secondary traumatic stress. Early-career nurses appear particularly vulnerable to occupational strain, warranting examination of how years of experience may influence perceptions of professional well-being.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between years of nursing experience and professional quality of life among critical care nurses.

METHODS: A quantitative, cross-sectional pilot study was conducted using the Professional Quality of Life scale. A convenience sample of 55 nurses were recruited and consented from a rural hospital in the western United States. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlations were used to examine relationships between years of experience and scores on the instrument’s subscales.

RESULTS: Forty nurses provided complete survey responses. Years of nursing experience correlated positively with compassion satisfaction and negatively with burnout. No significant relationship was found between years of experience and secondary traumatic stress.

CONCLUSIONS: Greater professional experience was associated with higher compassion satisfaction and lower burnout but not with secondary traumatic stress. These findings suggest that experience may buffer against cumulative occupational strain, whereas trauma-related stress responses may persist across career stages. Structured mentoring and transition support may help to mitigate burnout among early-career nurses, and trauma-informed leadership approaches may warrant consideration in high-acuity environments.

PMID:42676138 | DOI:10.4037/ajcc2026573