Objective: to describe the burnout syndrome among nurses at the emergency services and intensive care units of three hospitals in Bogotá 2011-2013. Methodology: a descriptive, cross sectional study using the "Assessment Questionnaire for the Syndrome of Burning Oneself Out At Work" (CESQT), which has been validated and was acquired for this study. Ethical aspects were preserved, and data were processed in the SPSS statistics software. Similarly, statistical procedures were used for the data analysis. Results: one hundred and fourteen nurses participated in the study, and 4.1% of the nurses in the emergency services had SBW. Similarly, the professionals from the ICU are at risk of developing the syndrome. The SBW (p= ,009) and the psychological exhaustion (p= 0.034) and indolence (p=0.004) subscales differ significantly depending on the service for which these professionals work. Conclusions: emergency professionals have "Syndrome of burning oneself out at work" (SBW). The understanding of the negative consequences that this syndrome generates in different contexts such as institutions, professionals, patients, families and society in general should be deepened. Thus, it is important to create interventions and ensure healthy work environments which strengthen patient care as well as the health of these professionals.