Introduction. Nurse is a member of the therapeutic team that has the longest and the closest contact with a patient. This fact is of particular importance when we have to do with an aggressive patient. Aggression is one of the fundamental behaviour destabilising the entire process of treatment as well as disrupting the nurse – patient relationship. The burnout syndrome is one of the most serious consequences of aggression experienced at work and is becoming an increasingly recognised problem both in Poland and abroad. Aim of study. Determining the occurrence level of aggression and burnout as well as establishing relationships between these variables experienced by the group of psychiatric nurses. Materials and Methods. The study covered 74 nurses working at the hospital in the south of Poland. The study used the MBI questionnaire (Maslach Burnout Inventory) and an authorial questionnaire. Research findings. The study showed that nurses had to deal with various kinds of aggression in their work. The surveyed nurses showed occupational burnout. The relationship between the prevalence of professional burnout and the experience of aggression has been confirmed. Conclusions. There is a relationship between the aggression experienced by nurses in the workplace and the occurrence of occupational burnout mainly in the dimension of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Therefore, it is recommended for psychiatric nurses to participate in workshops focusing on different ways of dealing with occupational burnout and aggression in the workplace.

Key words: aggression, professional burnout, psychiatric nurses.