Nurses are the largest population of every health institution, and yet burnout is most common among them in comparison to other health professions. The aim of this research is to establish some of the determinants of emotional exhaustion, one of the main components of burnout, among the sample of nurses. 161 nurses from eight different departments of Clinical Hospital Center Rijeka participated in this research. Variables that were tested as determinants of emotional exhaustion are emotional labor with emphasis on surface acting, interpersonal justice of patients, rumination after specific event and general rumination about work, and mindfulness. Significant negative correlations between emotional exhaustion and mindfulness, as well as with interpersonal justice are established and there is a positive correlation between emotional exhaustion and both types of rumination. Hierarchical regression analysis results show that mindfulness, interpersonal justice and rumination about work are significant overall emotional exhaustion predictors. Surface acting wasn’t significantly connected with the criteria in any of the analysis. Furthermore, the relationship between interpersonal justice and emotional exhaustion is partially mediated by rumination after a specific event and the relationship between mindfulness and emotional exhaustion is partially mediated by both types of rumination. Based on the results obtained, strengths and limitations of this study are discussed and guidelines for future research are suggested.