Research Paper On Nurse Burnout

These things are not taught in nursing school. I think new nurses should be exposed to burnout as a topic. I believe students and nurses should find several healthy ways to manage stress and make those commitments to themselves. My job has resources to all nurses and I have used some of them. A few stress management techniques that have worked for me is exercise, eating healthy, and reading. As far as mindfulness techniques, being aware of the space oneself is in or body scans, which I have practice in my Nurse Graduate Program. Any of these techniques can help with the prevention of burnout. I seem to respond better to exercise than a meditation technique. It took trying all to figure it

46. A burnout syndrome workplace health care: A study with the professional team of nursing hospitals.

Compassion fatigue and burnout is a burgeoning area of interest primarily due to its adverse effects on a nurses’ health, productivity, and patient care. Despite the literature on nursing burnout and compassion fatigue, the lived experiences of nurses have virtually been ignored. According to Thomas & Wilson (2004), compassion fatigue is the stress, strain, and weariness of caring for others who are suffering from a medical illness or psychological problem” (p. 82). In contrast, burnout is a accumulation of stress due to the repetitive demands of daily life, a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by a depletion of the ability to cope with one’s environment, particularty the work environment (Maslach, 1982). Burnout more often point to environment stressors, whereas definitions of compassion fatigue address the relational nature of the condition.Increasing and unresolved stress leads to compassion fatigue, it is the accumulation of fatigue that leads to a state of exhaustion and

Those of us who graduated from nursing school and started their first job were full of dreams, aspirations, and had every intention of making a difference. Now fast forward five years; these same nurses have been on their feet for 16 hours and have not had time to eat or use the bathroom since leaving their homes this morning. The call lights will not stop going off long enough for them to give report to the oncoming nurses and once again they are late for their children’s dance recitals or soccer games. They can forget about trying to squeeze a yoga class in this week. I understand what it is like to rush to your car feeling as if some important task was forgotten; was Mr. Smith’s tube feed restarted, did room 8 receive their pain medication? Nurses all over the world are experiencing “burnout”. To avoid burnout, nurses must properly care for themselves by separating work from personal life, knowing when to say no, and making time for enjoyable activities to manage stress, because we cannot provide quality patient care if we are neglecting ourselves.

The term burnout, according to Catalano, is a continuing depletion of energy and strength combined with a loss of motivation and commitment after prolonged exposure to high occupational stress (2015). When a unit or facility is understaffed, not only do the nursing staff get burnt out, the patients also don’t receive the quality of care they deserve. Due to the increase in workload, nursing staff are more prone to making mistakes and medical errors and sometime times do not fellow facility policies. The nurse-patient ratio aspect sometimes gets overlooked at and that could lead to possible medication errors, lack of communication, falls, neglect, abuse and/or death may occur. Sometimes, it become so overwhelming people turn to leave the workforce all together. When nurses and CNA workload increase, they become frustrated and unhappy, and the desire to leave

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 work long hours and deal with high levels of stress during the workday which leads to nurse burnout. Nurse burnout is classified as physical and mental fatigue, which strongly affects the nurses emotions and motivation. (“Nursing Burnout”). Burnout is caused by various factors within the workplace, such as dealing with a hectic, fast-paced environment, caring for too many patients at one time, and working odd hours. When nurses deal with multiple patients per shift, high levels of responsibility, and their own personal problems, they can become exhausted and overwhelmed. Stress due to burnout can also affect the nurse’s mood in a negative way, causing the nurse to become impatient or irritable, which can oftentimes results in verbal or emotional abuse towards the

According to Suzanne Gordon “ whether young or old, nurses are disillusioned because they believe that health care systems guided by bottom-line concerns simply don’t recognize the specificity of their work” (234). Nursing is more demanding than many other professions or occupations, due to the combination of difficult patients, exhausting schedules and arduous physical work (Gordon 235). It can take a significant emotional toll on many, hence the higher levels of burnout. Job dissatisfaction as a result of increased workloads and unreasonable demands, such as inappropriate nurse staffing levels, was cited as the number one reason that drives many experienced nurses to leave the profession (Sanford 38+). Studies have shown that such working conditions also affected the retention of new graduate nurses by leaving their first hospital jobs within two years of graduating (Sanford 38+).

In the ever changing world of healthcare, healthcare organizations in order to be the most efficient in their delivery of healthcare, streamline their organizational structure to stay competitive, while providing the best patient care possible. This process can place increasingly undue stress onto its staff resulting in nurses having to do more with less available resources which ultimately increases their workload, has them working longer hours due to staff shortage, which contributes to an increase in the nurse burnout rates. This eventually filters down to the patient’s level of care and means less time spent on each

Nursing is more demanding than many other professions or occupations, as a result of the combination of sicker patients, exhausting schedules and arduous physical work (Gordon 235). It can take a significant emotional toll on many, hence the higher levels of depression and stress-related illnesses (Gordon, Buchanan, and Bretherton 190). Higher workloads not only were related to burnout, but also impacted both the nurses’ and the patients’ safety (Gordon, Buchanan, and Bretherton 191).

According to Hunt (2009), feeling overworked is the number one cause for nurse turnover in health care settings. Other reasons at the top of the list include, lack of support from employers and few opportunities for advancement. Due to the nursing shortage, staffing has been an issue in many healthcare facilities. As a result, units are consistently short staffed, causing nurses to feel overworked and unsupported by management. Cline (2004) highlighted nurse frustration when a participant in the study stated, “When you’re constantly short-staffed and feel your managers aren’t supporting you at least by saying, ‘Thank you, I know you must’ve had a hard

The issue of healthcare personnel scarcity continues to be an ongoing challenge across the globe. Invariably, nurses are at the pinnacle in the delivery of quality care in any healthcare setting. The ever-increasing demands for care stem from a patient populace that is emergent, growing older and needing more care due to the escalating shift in their disease process. Hence, nurses are torn between balancing an overloaded schedule, working extra hours and maintaining astuteness and professionalism. This transcends to compromised patient care, nursing burnout makes it difficult for them to experience the rewards of caring for patients in the way they had expected; thereby, adding to the shortage of

Research Critique, Part 1: Hospital Nurse Staffing and Patient Mortality, Nurse Burnout, and Job Dissatisfaction

Stressful work environments, long work hours and inadequate sleep all contribute to an increase in physical and mental exhaustion amongst nurses. Typically, people choose nursing as a career to help others and to make a difference in their lives, without realizing the number of duties this career demands. Nurses may suffer in silence when they are experiencing stress. The effects can impact safe and reliable care by decreasing job satisfaction, decreasing productivity, causing poor personal health, and compromising patient care. Many facilities would benefit from implementing evidence-based strategies to address nurse fatigue and burnout.

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).