Nurses are working in a highly stressful environment. Undoubtedly, the need to attend to every patient’s need may lead to physical and emotional exhaustion known as ‘burnout”. Study showed that 63% of nurses claimed that they are suffering from burnouts. Professionals in any industry can suffer from burnouts, but nonetheless, medical professionals, most specially nurses, are facing higher risks.
Burnouts are dangerous because they can lead to poor decision-making, reduced productivity and inability to treat patients. Clearly, these can greatly affect the degree of patient care. Exhausted nurses might feel detached, depressed as well as lack compassion for patients.
There are helpful strategies or resources which can be adopted to prevent nurse burnout in particular. Addressing burnout issues should be a combination of efforts of nurses and hospitals.
Causes of Nurse Burnout
While the cause of nurse burnout is different from person to person, their profession directly contributes and causes stress and fatigue. The following were studied to be the most common causes of nurse burnout.
- Working For Long Hours – Worldwide understaffing has caused nurses to work for hours undoubtedly. Nurses are required to take several responsibilities beyond their normal shifts too. Apparently, these long shifts take a toll on nurses and affect the quality of work they do.
Furthermore, there are studies which demonstrated that nurses working on shifts for 10 hours or longer were up to two and a half times more likely to experience burnout. They also experience dissatisfaction from their jobs when they are stressed.
- Lack of Sleep – Not enough sleep can cause impaired cognitive functions which may lead to mental health problems. Most nurses are sleeping less than the needed hours of sleep because of their demanding jobs. Obviously, it can drain their energies which could lead to burnout. About 30%-70% of nurses reported that they are getting less than 6 hours of sleep from working in night shifts and from more than 40 hours of work in a week.
- Lack Of Support From The Workplace –. When nurses do not receive the needed support from the workplace, hospitals and doctors contribute to stressful environments. When there are conflicts, poor communication and bullying in the workplace, nurse burnout is fairly common too. This is because they feel underappreciated and insulted.
- Tasks That Drain Physically – Nurses are also instructed to administer critical emergencies to multiple patients apart from their long shifts They may also be assigned to assist in surgical procedures and operations. Subsequently, mental strain and physical tiredness occur when these tasks are repeatedly done causing burnout.
- Tasks That Drain Emotionally – Nursing jobs are unique in nature. Indeed, their days in the hospitals are usually spent dealing with death and medical emergencies. These experiences are quite common among ICU and critical care nurses. Nonetheless, all nurses on duty may experience these scenarios which usually lead to burnout.
Best Burnout Resources For Nurses
It is better to identify first the causes that are contributing to your stress. Moreover, it is best to address them early before they turn into a serious problem where you will lose your job. These resources can help you effectively manage burnout symptoms.
1. Stop And Breathe
Better to stop what you are doing and focus on your breathing when you feel the situation is going out of control. Don’t hesitate, pause for a moment. Usually, when we are too occupied we forget to really breathe also. Taking a few deep breaths in and out can calm you and will help you regain composure.
Practice deep breathing exercise which promotes mindfulness and creates positive reactions to stress. So next time that you are feeling stressed from a heavy workload, don’t forget to breathe!
2. Set A Healthy Boundaries And Learn To Say “No”
If you are feeling overwhelmed from your current assignment, do not take on another task which you think you can’t possibly handle. Obviously, you have to say “no” and stay within your limits. Besides, it will not make you a bad nurse anyway, but rather a smart one. Absolutely, being smart can make you better off to handle burnout.
3. Prioritize Your Health
Nurses work at varying hours. Without a doubt, they will find it difficult to even take bathroom breaks or an hour of daily exercise as well as a good sleep. These practices can put up strain in your health and can trigger burnout. In spite of a challenging job, you should prioritize your health by eating healthy meals and staying hydrated. This is one of the best resources you can have amidst a tough job.
4. Maintain Self-Care
Aligned with prioritizing health is maintaining self-care. Following Long hour shifts is burnout which can also lead to bad habits. Burnout leads to negative health habits such as loss of sleep, obesity, sedentary lifestyle and substance abuse. With these bad habits, it is hard to take care of others as a caregiver does. Obviously, there is a need to take care of yourself first in order to be of service to others. Self-care is also very important to stay healthy and combat burnout
5. Explore Other Opportunities
Exploring other work opportunities can help a lot when nurses are feeling the onset of burnout. Definitely, nurses can change their specialty or switch places of employment to explore other work opportunities. This is very ideal for nurses who are currently working in specialties such as intensive and critical care. Changing to less-demanding specialties can reduce stress and prevent burnout. Without a doubt, continuous education is helpful to open up new career opportunities for nurses prone to burnout.
6. Adopting A Routine
Unquestionably, this is one of the most important resources to prevent burnout. You will have more time to relax and boost your mental health if you create a routine. Creating a sleeping schedule gives you mental focus and time efficiency at work. You should not also forget to schedule time for hobbies, travel and relaxing activities such as watching a good movie and reading insightful books too.. These routine activities can revitalize you for your succeeding shifts.
7. Delegate Tasks
According to studies, task delegation was associated with less burnout for primary care providers such as nurses. Delegating tasks are very helpful most especially for nurse managers. Besides, even the most efficient nurses can be overwhelmed by multi-tasking and doing the tasks of their subordinates. Indeed, delegation prevents burnout and can also improve the patient outcomes when appropriately used.
8. Take Inventory Of Your Stressors
Another helpful resource is to make a list of all the stressors that caused your burnout. In addition, those that can possibly cause exhaustion in the long run should also be included in the inventory. After making the list, brainstorm to look for possible solutions. This is a good idea to manage burnout.
9. Seek Support
If you are feeling stressed out or under pressure, asking for support will help ease the tension that can lead to burnout. Moreover, asking help or taking advice from trustworthy persons can prevent the onset of depression. Persons, such as family and friends that you trust fully, can uplift your spirit from physical and emotional exhaustion. Along with family members and friends, a therapist can help you to recover from burnout using some effective strategies.
10. Create Positivity
Always looking for the other side of the coin is very effective in managing burnout. Even so it is always hard to smile during stressful situations, being positive will help you a lot to handle burnout as a nurse. Reading good nursing books will create optimism in you. Optimism is essential to create self-esteem and determination that will help you cope up with the challenges in nursing jobs.
Burn Them Out
Nurses experience burnout when they are too physically exhausted from performing their everyday duties. Moreover, other stressors such as tasks that drain them emotionally can also add stress and fatigue. Nonetheless, burnout should be addressed early to prevent depression and poor job performance.. In addition, addressing them early will make a nurse smart and confident.
There are helpful resources that can prevent nurse burnout. In addition, there are programs which can help manage burnout. Furthermore, these resources will help nurses to develop the necessary skills to fight anxiety and depression. Definitely, you can burn these unnecessary burnouts in your life!