Lifestyle And Burnout Research Paper

The Question asked was “Why is burnout important in nursing?”, I look at the question as, “Why is burnout important to recognize before burnout happens?”. I don’t see burnout important as much as I believe recognizing it. Burnout is defined when nurses can no longer cope with the stresses and strains of professional nursing and choose to leave the profession to seek employment elsewhere (Masters, 2014). I believe if burnout is recognized as something that happens when entering a nursing career, nurses can proactively work on avoiding this. As a new nurse, these things are not thought of. New nurses are so focused on learning their job and performing at the best of their ability and while doing so they are slowly reaching burnout. Knowing what is expected to be a nurse, the work environment stresses, home life stresses, and knowing the unequal balance that can plague a nursing career, can be a platform to find strategies to manage burnout.

Nurses must support each other and “start a movement” (Tucker, S. 2016) to eliminate nursing “burnout”. The quality of nurse’s lives will improve and accordingly, their ability to provide exceptional care will be the “icing on the cake”. Now picture this; it is 2:50 pm and 1st shift is coming to an end, patients were checked one last time and all of their needs have been met. It was busy shift, but there was time for a walk and some breathing exercises. A nurse is giving report to the next shift and she actually has time to get in a quick workout before dance recitals soccer games, and PTA meetings; but more importantly, she made a difference

Staff nurses have great responsibilities in caring for patients. Often, these nurses experience heavy workload. Heavy patient load and stress contributes to burnout. Why is burnout important to discuss in relation to nurses? Burnout affects the performance of the nurse and the quality of care he or she provides to the patient. Therefore, it is imperative that staff nurses decrease the possibility of burnout and increase or maintain excitement and enjoyment in the field of nursing. If nurses do so, they will find joy in their work and quality of patient care will be increased. Contributors to burnout and

The rising rates of seasoned nurses have resulted in replacing the more experienced and skilled professionals by infusing fresh graduates who lack the required skill and experience needed to effectively adapt to a clinical environment. This is coupled by the booming level of workload witnessed by these graduates who many are unable to cope with. Adding fuel to fire the initial work experience is discouraging for many graduates who hence are exhausted .This results in numerous fresh graduates completely burning out in just 18 months of their introduction to professional medical environment (World Health Organization, 2006).

The profession of nursing requires a capacity and joy for caring and healing others both mentally and physically. Nurses spend their careers caring for patients and their families often in the worst and most frightening periods of their lives. Nursing responsibilities can be lengthy, stressful and physically and emotionally demanding. The demands of the nursing profession coupled with the nursing shortage and longer work hours put even more stress on nurses. Despite these extreme demands, many nurses do not fully appreciate the importance self-care. Yet without proper care for themselves, nurses are not able to provide the best care for their patients.

Burnout is a gradual onset with symptoms coming on over time slowly. Burnout symptoms may include physical exhaustion, hopelessness, negative self-concept, having difficulty leaving home, and inability to concentrate are just some of the symptoms. Due to the gradual onset of symptoms, it is often hard to detect early (Dass-Brailsford, 2007). In McCann and Pearlman’s article they discuss burnout as a, “psychological strain from working with difficult populations” (McCann & Pearlman, 1990).

A few noticeable symptoms for burn out are feeling tired from interacting with patients and colleagues, negative attitudes about the job or the patients, and negative self-evaluation; other symptoms include frequent colds, backaches, headaches, and being unable to sleep (Ellis, 2013). However, not all burnout is from the demand of the job. Henry D. Mason and Juan A. Nel have seen that secondary traumatic stress can cause burn out in nurses who have cared for traumatic patients

Becoming a nurse requires extensive schooling and training that for most students causes considerable amounts of stress to be placed on their success for the future. Nursing school places students in an environment that is rigorous and competitive which in turn results in high-stress levels experienced by these students. The stress inflicted on these students causes them to experience health problems along with deterring them from completing their studies. Additionally, the pressure and struggles these students are facing are being ignored by those placing them under these conditions, ignoring the fact that the educators of these students are responsible for ensuring the well-being of these students. Proven that nursing students experience more stress than the average college undergraduate, the stress inflicted on nursing students by their educational process results in students that are less likely to succeed and that are overall less healthy both physically and mentally.

Occupational burnout– specifically in the nursing profession, is a highly talked about topic in health science as more and more nurses are experiencing some form of this phenomenon. As the push towards quality improvement in health care has intensified, patient satisfaction scores have begun to reflect the discontentment of nurses in their field. Since nurses provide the most direct care to patients, if they become indifferent to their career, their indifference has a negative snowball effect on the care that they provide to their patients. This leads to medical error when inputting information into patient charts, and a lack of patient safety (Hall, Johnson, Watt, Tsipa, & O’Connor, 2016). A study conducted by Wilkinson, Whittington, Perry, and Eames found that out of ten studies, eight provided enough empirical evidence to support a negative relationship between empathy given to patients and nursing burnout (Wilkinson et al., 2017). For their findings, researchers asked nurses and/or medical professionals to complete the Maslach Burnout Inventory to assess burnout and empathy. This newfound lack of empathy in nurses more than likely develops due to working long or extended hours at a time. Working long shifts, and even over-time, is a common practice amongst doctors and nurses in the medical field. According to Persaud and

Theories for burnout in the nursing profession are presented in the jobs-demands resources model. “This study uses the job-demands resources model to clarify the role of burnout among nursing staff in the relationship between stress factors and intention to leave the profession”

Nurses, always involved in patient care, sometimes experience detrimental effects with prolonged stress or “burnout” during their career throughout the years. Burnout is defined as an extended response to physical or emotional stressors. Some examples of these stressors are; memories of witnessing death, patient and family suffering, emotional stress of losing patients, feeling emotionally and physically drained, or emotional disconnect from staff which can all contribute to burnout. As a result, nurses can experience; exhaustion, anxiety, dissatisfaction and low capacity. Overall, burnout can have negative effects not just on the emotional and physical health of nurses but also on; patient satisfaction, outcomes and mortality of nurses and patients. Although, there are ways to reduce or prevent these negative effects of burnout from manifesting. For example, nurses can apply interventions to reduce these risks including; staff support, onsite counselors and psychiatrists for nurses and salary increases and reimbursement opportunities for nurses through clinical ladder programs. Nurses can also start by just saying no to certain requests, being aware of their tolerance level, by taking care of themselves and having fun outside of work. On the other hand, others do not think nursing burnout is fatal and nurses just need a break from their job to initiate change. Although, the issue of burnout is prevalent in nurse’s careers which need to be addressed more in society in

Nurses are especially vulnerable to several related effects of stress, such as burnout, job dissatisfaction, increased interpersonal problems, increased health complaints, disturbances in sleep patterns, as well as clinical depression and anxiety (Villani, Grassi, Cognetta, Toniolo, Cipresso, & Riva, 2013). The potential for stress can be reduced by resolving difficulties in the workplace promptly, addressing staff shortages, turnover and absenteeism, and developing clear objectives and plans (McIntosh, & Sheppy, 2013). Learning to manage and reduce stress by developing insight and coping strategies will help to maintain and promote nursing integrity and consistent patient care (McIntosh, & Sheppy, 2013).

Any work environment can have stressful aspects that can negatively affect the employees’ performance and may lead to burnout. Oftentimes when employees are stressed or burnout their commitment at the job may begin to weaken and they may lose satisfaction. Many organizations have recognized that workers burnout is the result of aggravated chronic work stressors and embodied by enervation and inefficacy. This author will discuss the impact of stress and worker burnout on organizations. Moreover, this author will consider the implication of stress and worker burnout on the employee, as well as the short- and long-term productivity of a business.

Adekola (2010) contends that men who share housework and family responsibilities with their wives and support their career development are less prone to burnout than those who do not have such assistance at home. This could, therefore, explain why women cope better with burnout than men in the long run when equal sharing of domestic tasks are considered within the family. Adekola (2010) further states that when married women are being helped by husbands in housework errands and family chores, this strengthens women’s emotional wellbeing, human contacts and their interpersonal skills. Research has also demonstrated that family life with all its responsibilities is not just a burden; but also a gratifying source that reinforces people’s emotional

Nurses often feel a conflict between the ideals of the profession and the reality of the job.  Deheny (2001) writes “demands and expectations of the role are greater than the resources or number of hours in the day to accomplish what nurses would define as quality nursing care” (para. 1).  Also, the use of advanced technology can create emotional withdrawal from the patient as the nurse focuses more on the machines than the person.  These factors increase job dissatisfaction and emotional burnout.  To articulate one’s personal philosophy requires examining the values and beliefs that define a person. Masters (2014) writes, “the overall purpose of personal philosophy is