Nurse Kaycee Here

Burnout among nurses is a well-known issue in the healthcare community. It has become a popular topic after the COIVD pandemic. It’s reported that many nurses are leaving their careers due to high levels of burnout. Burnout can be difficult to define, however it is generally when one is exposed to a stressful work environment for long periods of time. Burnout can be exhaustion of mental, physical, or emotional states. In severe cases of burnout, it can be all three combined.

What Causes Burnout

Contributing factors that can lead to burnout in the nursing community include:

• High patient to nurse ratios
• lack of breaks
• not feeling heard or supported by hospitals or management
• long hours/ mandated overtime
• bullying in the workplace
• high acuity patients
• experiencing secondary trauma
• negative work environment
• stressful home atmosphere
• financial difficulties
• difficulty balancing home and work life

In their study about nurse burnout, Shah et. al. (2021) analyzed data with over 50,000 nurses and stated “31.5% reported burnout as a reason” for leaving their healthcare jobs. Among the reasons why they felt burned out, nurses reported “a stressful work environment” and “inadequate staffing” (Shah et al., 2021). Nurses who worked over 40 hours per week were also found to cite burnout as a main source of leaving their job (Shah et al., 2012). It is not surprising that nurses want to leave given these factors. These are great reasons for any person to feel burnout and leave their career field.

Signs of Burnout

Signs of burnout can be subtle or pronounced. One may experience lack of sleep, nightmares, PTSD symptoms, fatigue, headaches, negative feelings of going to work, pre-shift anxiety, feelings of impending doom, and more. Symptoms usually worsen the longer one is exposed to the specific stressor(s) causing the burnout.

Less Stressful Nursing Jobs

So, if nurses are leaving the bedside, where can they go?

Care management

Outpatient/ambulatory care

Telehealth nursing

Utilization review

Remote triage

IT/software nursing (think Epic)

Influencing

Nurse heath writer

Medical coding

Aesthetic nursing

School nursing

I recently wrote an article about “soft nurse jobs” you can check out if you’re interested in less stressful nursing careers.

Preventing Burnout

There are many ways to combat burnout. Some health systems may even offer assistance programs to help employees who are experiencing burnout. Although every employee is different in what may help their symptoms, some general things that may help are seeing a professional therapist, sharing symptoms with a primary care physician, having a healthier diet and exercising, taking time after a shift to decompress, journaling, not scheduling too many shifts in a row, talking to a trusted friend or family member, participating in spiritual practices such as prayer, joining a group or starting a sport, engaging in positive or creative hobbies, and getting adequate amounts of sleep each day.

Making these changes can be easier said than done and it may be overwhelming to make too many changes at the same time. Even if they are positive changes. While nursing is a commendable career it can take a toll on the mind and body. It’s important to be able to recognize signs of burnout and to be able to cope effectively and accordingly. Like the flight attendants tell you when you get on a plane- make sure your oxygen is secure before you help others. You can’t provide excellent care to others when you don’t take excellent care of yourself.