In This Story
Key Takeaways
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An interdisciplinary team at George Mason analyzed the results of a national study revealing that burnout among U.S. school nurses remained alarmingly high even after the pandemic’s peak, underscoring risks to both workforce retention and student health services.
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Published in The Journal of School Nursing, the study found that 50% of surveyed school nurses met criteria for burnout, highlighting persistent systemic challenges.
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The study research emphasizes the need for policy and administrative reforms, identifying staffing ratios, leadership support, and improved working conditions as critical solutions to protect nurse retention and safeguard student health nationwide.
Even as schools phased out of COVID-19 crisis mode, burnout among U.S. school nurses did not fade. A new study by researchers at the George Mason University College of Public Health suggests the strain of the pandemic revealed deeper, unresolved problems challenging the school nursing workforce.
The study was published recently in The Journal of School Nursing.
“The pandemic changed school nursing in ways that didn’t reverse once schools reopened,” said senior author Erin D. Maughan, associate professor at the School of Nursing. “The intensity of that period continues to impact schools and children’s health, but has never been properly addressed. There is a new normal of increased stress that is not sustainable for many school nurses,” she said.
Deborah Goetz Goldberg, associate professor of health administration and policy, assembled the interdisciplinary research team with a federal grant focused on health workforce resiliency training. In addition to Maughan, the team included professor of global and community health Ali Weinstein, PhD student Megan E. Warner, and graduate student Zill Shah.
Half of the 1,259 school nurses surveyed in 2022 met criteria for burnout—after the pandemic’s peak and long after schools reopened. Among those who answered a question about burnout, 80% met the criteria. At this time many school nurses were still juggling COVID‑era duties like contact tracing and enforcing shifting health rules, stacked onto already demanding roles.
In their responses, nurses described emotional and physical fatigue that often stretched beyond the school day, as well as anxiety, irritability, sleep problems, depressive symptoms, and physical effects.
When nurses pointed to what drove their burnout, one factor eclipsed the rest: workload. More than one in five cited demands that effectively doubled their work, often without additional staff, time, authority, or institutional support.
Why this matters
The study makes clear that burnout is not just a well-being issue, but also a retention threat. School nurses experiencing burnout were more likely to say they were considering leaving their current position or the profession entirely.
“While personal coping strategies matter, they are not enough,” Weinstein said. “Without policy and administrative changes, burnout poses risks to the entire profession, as well as the quality of student health services.”
To retain and strengthen the overburdened workforce, the authors point to a number of institutional-level solutions, including:
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Reducing workload through staffing reform, by aligning nurse-to-student ratios with national guidelines.
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Stronger administrative and leadership support, including clear health policies and meaningful inclusion of nurses in decision-making.
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Built-in mental health and peer supports, such as counseling access, mentorship, and professional networks.
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Improved working conditions, including protected time for administrative tasks, fair compensation, and zero tolerance for harassment or abuse.