This is a self-assessment tool, not a clinical diagnosis. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988) or the Nurse Support Line. This tool is for self-awareness and planning — not a substitute for mental health care.
This Is Not the Burnout Quiz
The nurse burnout quiz on this site is a quick screen for emotional exhaustion, compassion fatigue and sense of purpose. This assessment looks at a different set: the three dimensions of Maslach's burnout model, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment. It scores each from 0 to 100, then shows up to four recovery steps picked by which dimensions came out moderate or high.
The Maslach Burnout Inventory, the gold-standard clinical tool used in research, is a licensed instrument sold per use by Mind Garden, so each assessment costs money. This tool follows the same three-dimension framework at no cost. It is shorter and not validated, so treat your result as a prompt for reflection, not a measurement.
The 3 dimensions scored
Emotional Exhaustion
Feeling emotionally drained and depleted by patient care. The classic "I have nothing left to give" symptom — the core of burnout as described by Maslach.
Depersonalization
Emotional distancing from patients — treating them as objects, cases, or room numbers rather than people. A protective but damaging coping response to chronic overload.
Reduced personal accomplishment
Loss of sense of competence and meaningful accomplishment. When nothing you do feels like it matters — even when you're doing everything right. These three questions are worded positively, so a lower answer means more strain.
Two related problems this tool does not score
Compassion fatigue and moral injury affect many nurses, but this assessment has no questions on them. The burnout quiz covers compassion fatigue.
Compassion Fatigue
Secondary traumatic stress from absorbing patient suffering over time. Different from burnout — it's the cost of caring, not just overwork. Common in ICU, oncology, and hospice nurses.
Moral Injury
Distress from being unable to provide care that aligns with your ethical values — usually due to staffing, policies, or systemic constraints. Nurses are forced to witness or participate in something that violates their moral code. This became epidemic during COVID and remains underdiagnosed.
How to use it: 3 steps
Answer the Assessment
Rate 10 statements about your work on a five-point scale from Never to Daily or almost always. It takes about 3 minutes. Be honest: your answers are scored in this browser and are not saved.
Get Your Dimension Profile
The page scores emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment from 0 to 100 each, averages them into an overall score, and places you in a low (0 to 34), moderate (35 to 64) or high (65 to 100) band.
Read your recommendations
You get up to four recovery steps chosen by fixed rules: each dimension that scores moderate or high adds a matching step, such as protecting sleep and days off when exhaustion is high. They are general steps written for nurses, not a tailored 30-day plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Nurse Burnout Assessment tool?
The Nurse Burnout Assessment is a free 10-question self-assessment that scores three dimensions of burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment. It gives each dimension a score from 0 to 100, averages them into an overall low, moderate or high result, and shows up to four recovery recommendations chosen by which dimensions are elevated. It runs in your browser with no signup.
How is this different from the burnout quiz?
The burnout quiz is also 10 questions, but it scores emotional exhaustion, compassion fatigue and sense of purpose. This assessment scores the three dimensions of Maslach's burnout model: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment. Both take a few minutes. Taking both gives you a wider picture, since only the quiz covers compassion fatigue and only this assessment covers depersonalization.
What recovery recommendations do I get?
After the last question you see up to four recommendations, picked by fixed rules from your dimension levels. High emotional exhaustion puts protecting sleep and days off first; high depersonalization adds reconnecting with one patient per shift; a high reduced-accomplishment score adds keeping a weekly note of what went well. Moderate scores bring steps such as auditing your shift pattern, taking breaks off the unit or setting a learning goal. If fewer than three apply, general steps such as setting one boundary or seeking professional support fill the list. There is no week-by-week 30-day plan; retaking the assessment after 30 days is a simple way to check progress.
What dimensions of nurse burnout does this measure?
Three: (1) Emotional exhaustion, feeling drained and depleted after patient care (4 questions); (2) Depersonalization, emotional distancing from patients (3 questions); and (3) Reduced personal accomplishment, loss of competence and meaningful accomplishment (3 questions). Compassion fatigue and moral injury also affect many nurses, but this tool does not score them.
Is this based on the Maslach Burnout Inventory?
The assessment draws on the conceptual framework of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), the gold-standard clinical tool for burnout measurement. The MBI is a licensed instrument sold per use by Mind Garden. This tool uses the same three core MBI dimensions (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, personal accomplishment) in a shorter, free 10-question form. It is not a validated clinical instrument and should not replace mental health care, but it gives you a structured self-check at zero cost.
Related Tools & Guides
Methodology and citations
This assessment follows the three-dimension burnout model described by Maslach and colleagues: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment. It is a short self-check, not the licensed Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), and it has not been validated as a clinical instrument.
How it is scored
- Emotional exhaustion: 4 questions.
- Depersonalization: 3 questions.
- Reduced personal accomplishment: 3 positively worded questions, reverse-scored so a higher score always means more strain.
Each answer counts from 0 (Never) to 4 (Daily or almost always). Each dimension is converted to a 0 to 100 score, and the overall score is the average of the three. Interpretation: 0 to 34 low, 35 to 64 moderate, 65 to 100 high.
Other instruments
The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI), developed by Kristensen et al. in 2005, is a public-domain alternative to the MBI with personal, work-related and client-related subscales. It is a reasonable next step if you want a longer, validated self-report measure.
References
- Kristensen, T. S., Borritz, M., Villadsen, E., & Christensen, K. B. (2005). The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: A new tool for the assessment of burnout. Work & Stress, 19(3), 192-207. doi:10.1080/02678370500297720
- Maslach, C., Schaufeli, W. B., & Leiter, M. P. (2001). Job burnout. Annual Review of Psychology, 52(1), 397-422.
- Borritz, M., & Kristensen, T. S. (2004). Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: Normative data from a representative Danish population. National Institute of Occupational Health.
- National Academy of Medicine (2019). Taking Action Against Clinician Burnout. The National Academies Press.
What this assessment is and is not
What it is: a free, unvalidated self-screening tool for burnout severity, built on the three MBI dimensions.
What it is not: a substitute for clinical evaluation. If your scores are high or you are experiencing thoughts of self-harm or hopelessness, please contact the National Nurse Crisis Line (1-866-525-8333), your facility's EAP, or 988 (Suicide and Crisis Lifeline). Burnout, depression, and anxiety overlap clinically; only a licensed mental health professional can disentangle them.