Taylor Crook (taylor.crook@hotmail.com)

Burnout among nurses is a worldwide issue, particularly in the wake of COVID-19(Raso et al. 2021). Typically underpaid and over-scheduled, nursing professionals experienceburnout—which often leads to lower job performances and even leaving the profession—at avery high rate. Much of this may be attributed to the stressful environment in which nurseswork, forcing them to reckon with endless unpredictability, overcrowding, multitasking, andgrief. Despite measures implemented to reduce nursing burnout, it remains a widespreadproblem. Studies reveal that 34.1% of nurses experience emotional exhaustion, 12.6%undergo depersonalization, and 15.2% feel a lack of personal accomplishment (Galanis et al.2020). Past studies on professional burnout have identified tools to analyze aspects that leadto burnout and how to identify burnout symptoms. One such model is the Job DemandResource Model (JDRM) developed by Bakker and Demerouti (2007) which outlines factorswithin the workplace that are either a “demand” or a “resource” for employees. Having bothhigh demands and low resources—common in the nursing workplace—leads to highersymptoms of job burnout: depersonalization, disengagement, and exhaustion. These burnoutsymptoms are already measurable among nursing professionals at concerning rates (Galaniset al. 2020). To solve this issue, healthcare institutions are implementing strategies such asauthentic leadership; professional development opportunities; and most prevalently, supportgroups to teach nurses how to cope with burnout symptoms (Converso et al. 2015). Whilethere is a consensus that positive and healthy environments are most effective against nursingburnout (Fitzpatrick et al. 2019), none of the current strategies involve the patient—a keycomponent of a nurse’s professional environment—as a possible solution to the problem.This study focuses on the impact of patient gratitude on nurses’ burnout levels, alongside theperception of depersonalization and personal achievement. A comparison of before-and-afternotes of gratitude from patients shows a significant decrease in burnout for nurses inpost-surgical and orthopedic departments.