The Role Of Burnout In The Mayo Clinic

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.

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 day comes and you think you cannot hear one more story of trauma. This is not a sign of burnout but of compassion fatigue. It’s a signal to you that it is time to step back and do self-care. Burnout and compassion fatigue are often confused as the same thing. The difference between them is that burnout builds up gradually over time and resolves itself when the volunteer or practitioner takes a break or goes to other work, even in the same field.

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

I learned that as a nurse I must take the initiative to regulate my work environment and myself. As much as nurses are part of the larger healthcare team, they often function autonomously. I will need to keep my skills up to date and educate myself by reading current research articles and taking classes at work. I will need to be humble and open to constructive criticism from my fellow employees. I must do my best to be hard working, honest, and helpful both in the work place and my persona life. It’s irrational to think people can be completely honest in one area of their life, but not the rest. If I suffer from any sort of bias towards my patients for the choices

One of the keys to eliminating burnout in the counseling field, is for the counselor to recognize when they are experiencing some of the symptoms. Kottler (2010) reports some of the signs of burnout include experiencing emotional exhaustion, having negative attitudes for your clients, feelings of lack of accomplishment, and becoming easily discouraged. Therefore, if we notice ourselves without the enthusiasm or drive for that passion which once drove us into this field chances are we may be experiencing symptoms of burnout. Oser, Biebel, Pullen, and Harp (2013) report it is always good to have

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).

During the first scenario involving Lieutenant Fuentes, his meteoric rise to the top of his law enforcement agency was described. During his rise to the top, Lieutenant Fuentes made several critical mistakes that ultimately led to his demise. He was able to reach the level of major within a few short years and had a wonderful family. Shortly after his wedding, Lieutenant Fuentes was involved in a serious car crash that resulted in him becoming addicted to pain medications. Upon his return to work, he began engaging in extramarital affairs that eventually led to the demise of his relationship and subsequently he and his wife were divorced.

Long-term effects of fatigue can lead to nursing "burn out" and decreased job satisfaction, often leading to self-termination within a year (Maust Martin, 2015). In a qualitative study performed many nurses negatively correlated their level of fatigue with job satisfaction. One participant discussed feelings of decreased patience and being short in responses to others, often lacking compassion for those who needed support. Another participant stated that the level of fatigue she continuously undergoes would more than likely contribute to her leaving her position as a floor nurse within the years (Steege, Rainbow, 2017). However, this is not the only negative impact of fatigue on a nurse’s

Nurses enter the workforce to help patients get better. Sometimes those patients require Intensive Care. In those cases, the Critical Care nurse becomes involved. There are costs to the intense treatment though. In 2013, Todaro-Franceschi stated that,

The health communication problem here, is that more often than not the healthcare system is failing to communicating to its providers just how serious burnout it, and doctors are failing to speak up about how heightened levels of stress and burnout are affect their own health, as well as, their patients. Not only are doctors and other providers alike suffering, but burnout can cause serious outcomes within in the healthcare system such as, medical complications that could have been completely preventable, higher turnover rates resulting from doctors retiring earlier than expected, as well as, higher prescription drugs dependancies and suicide rates among doctors. In fact “400 doctors [alone] committed suicide last year, which is double the rate of the population average” (Cahplan, 2016). That being said, the healthcare system and its providers need to be more open to

Burnout is a combination of factors, including emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and the reduced sense of personal accomplishment (Maslach, 1982). Emotional exhaustion is accompanied with a lack of compassion and motivation to work, while depersonalization leads to irritability.

Theres are many factors that seem to be very important in allowing hospice nurses a chance to decompress and allow them the opportunity to avoid becoming burned out. In one study they looked at setting boundaries as a way to deal with stress and burnout. One of the participants was quoted as saying, “I think the boundaries make me not less of a compassionated person but I think it preserves me…I think that it helps preserve you from burnout…it preserves yourself to allow you to this work.” (Melvin,2012) In this study they also

There are many ways to beat or prevent burnouts. In a research based in China, structural empowerment is said to have a positive effect on the psychological empowerment and will have a positive effect on nurses’ intent to stay. The Capella University has three tips to beating a burnout. There are: address workplace stress, provide support and to manage emotions. Addressing the stress at work can help find a solution earlier rather than later. Having support will enable nurses to handle their daily challenges better. Knowing how to manage emotions rather than pretending they don't exist can also lessen the strain one is feeling and therefore will lessen the chances of burnout. (Routson 2011) states that caring for oneself goes a long way

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