Psychological Safety, Level of Burnout, and Intention to Stay among Staff Nurses in a Tertiary Hospital in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND: Nurses play a critical role in delivering optimal patient care. However, punitive and blame-oriented organizational cultures can discourage the reporting of safety events, highlighting the importance of assessing psychological safety as a foundation for safe practice. This study examined the relationship between psychological safety, burnout, and intent to stay among staff nurses at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Jeddah. METHODS: A descriptive-correlational, cross-sectional design was utilized. A total of 284 Staff Nurse I employees were randomly sampled from a population of 1081, with 234 nurses completing an electronic RedCap survey, resulting in an 82.4% response rate. The study employed Edmondson’s Psychological Safety Scale, the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory, and McCain’s Intent to Stay Scale. Descriptive statistics, Spearman’s rho, and Chi-square tests were used for data analysis. RESULTS: More than half of the participants (52.6%) reported experiencing low psychological safety, and nearly half (50.5%) reported moderate-to-high burnout, particularly in both personal and work-related domains. In addition, 56% expressed a low intent to stay. Significant positive relationship was identified between psychological safety and intent to stay (rs = 0.278, P < 0.001); however, burnout and intent to stay had a negative correlation (rs = 0.324, P < 0.001). Psychological safety was significantly related to age, marital status, nationality, and type of experience, while burnout was associated with age, nationality, length of experience, and area of assignment. CONCLUSION: The findings demonstrate that psychological safety and burnout are both important predictors of nurse retention. Interventions including psychosocial support, work-life balance programs, and supportive leadership are essential to enhance well-being, reduce turnover, and sustain Magnet standards in tertiary hospitals.