Thesis

5. DISCUSSION
5.1. BURNOUT IN THE HUNGARIAN AND SWEDISH NURSES
Hypothesis 1: Since there are differences in the hospital organization, the hospital
management, the hospital equipment etc. between Hungarian and Swedish hospitals, where
Hungary is suffering from a deterioration in the hospitals policy-making, financing,
management, service structure, patient’s rights etc. (Piko, 1999), it was expected that these
differences in hospital conditions between the two countries would contribute to higher
burnout in the Hungarian nurses than in the Swedish ones.
The results connected to the first hypothesis showed that the Hungarian nurses had higher
levels of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and lower levels of personal
accomplishment than the Swedish nurses. On the other hand, the Swedish nurses had higher
levels of personal accomplishment than the Hungarian nurses. This means that the Hungarian
nurses had higher levels of burnout than the Swedish nurses. Piko (2006) has looked into the
topic of burnout in Hungarian nurses and the reasons possibly lying behind it. According to
Piko (op. cit.) Hungary has gone through a great deal of political changes. The hospitals have
also been undergoing changes due to these political changes and consequently many hospital
reforms have been undertaken. The political and health care system changes in Hungary can
be dated back to 1989, where the hospitals have suffered changes with regard to ownership,
funding, organization, patient’s rights etc. These changes have resulted in cut backs within the
health care and that nurses even today have very low salaries. Thus, the situation within the
health care system and the hospitals in Hungary is suffering from many negative
consequences for the health care workers which has a negative effect on the psychosocial
working environment for the nurses, doctors etc. The situation in Sweden is much better in
relation to the health care system. Even though Arnetz (1999) for example has mentioned that
hospitals in Stockholm have undergone organizational and economical changes, the situation
in Swedish hospitals has still not deteriorated as much as in Hungary. For example, Nilsson et
al. (2005) reported how the Swedish nurses in their sample were satisfied with working at
their specific wards due to that the managers give them opportunities for extending their
knowledge at work, that the management empowers them, and that the nurses had many
opportunities for developing their competence. Now, these results can of course not be