A 2007 study found high emotional exhaustion in 35% of hospital nurses, 37% of nursing-home nurses, and 22% of nurses in other settings. Left unchecked, burnout leads to poor performance, medical errors, high turnover, and even suicide. Here are practical strategies for spotting the symptoms, understanding the causes, and preventing it.
Recognizing Burnout
You cannot prevent burnout until you can spot it. It surfaces as fatigue, dreading work, feeling underappreciated, and being constantly overworked, usually when a job demands too much physically and mentally for too long.
Practicing outside your scope, or covering both support roles and RN duties, raises the risk. Supervisors and hospital leadership need to catch these signs in their staff too. Nurses are the backbone of the healthcare system, and when they feel overworked and unappreciated, morale drops and resignations follow.
Preventing Burnout
Self-care and mindfulness are the strongest defenses, along with regulating your shift schedule and avoiding overloaded responsibilities where you can. Beyond what employers and managers do, nurses need their own safeguards.
1. Build strong relationships. Solid relationships at work and at home are central to fighting burnout. Having someone to talk to about emotional strain and the push-pull of personal and professional pressure helps. Just as important: someone outside of work who can listen and help you return to your next shift present and prepared.
2. Set boundaries between work and home. When your shift ends, leave the thoughts, feelings, and grievances at work. Spend your home time with family, friends, and activities you enjoy.
3. Get enough sleep. Aim for at least eight hours each day or night, depending on your schedule. Good sleep improves alertness, concentration, stamina, mood, and motivation.
4. Care for your physical and mental health. Pair regular exercise with a balanced diet. Aim for at least 30 minutes of activity a day, including walks on breaks and movement after your shift. Protect your mental health too. If you are at the point of burnout and cannot get time off, calling in sick is fair. Feeling unwell mentally counts as much as a fever or cough. Track your sick days and plan accordingly.
5. Use therapy or assistance programs. Take advantage of any counseling your institution offers, or find services on your own. Ask human resources about employee assistance programs and individual or group therapy.
The Nursing Shortage and Burnout
The nursing shortage hits nurses across the country. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, thin staffing raises stress and dissatisfaction. More than 75% of nurses surveyed in 2005 said shortages increased their stress, lowered the quality of care they could provide, and pushed many to leave the profession.
The retiring baby boomer generation makes it worse. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, more than 1 million RNs are projected to retire by 2030, and nursing schools have not expanded fast enough to keep up with demand. A shortage means more nurses working longer or double shifts, and exhaustion fuels burnout. When you are surrounded by overworked colleagues turning in resignations, you absorb the extra work, and it gets harder to enjoy the career you chose.
Burnout Runs High in Oncology and Emergency Care
Any nurse can burn out, but it disproportionately hits oncology, critical care, and ICU roles because of the high-pressure environment. Emergency room nurses face frequent high stress and appear to burn out more often than nurses in other specialties.
Resources to Prevent and Cope With Burnout
Most major healthcare centers offer Employee Assistance Programs, free or low-cost, covering therapy and referrals to a psychologist, therapist, or psychiatrist for workplace and burnout issues. Seek out staff therapists when available, and push administrators for more scheduling flexibility, mental health support, and days off for self-care.
Additional references:
- NIOSH/CDC: Managing Fatigue During Times of Crisis: Guidance for Nurses, Managers, and Other Healthcare Workers (blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog)
- SAMHSA: Coping With Stress During Infectious Disease Outbreaks (library.samhsa.gov)
- SAMHSA: Taking Care of Your Behavioral Health (library.samhsa.gov)
The National Academy of Medicine's Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience (nam.edu) raises visibility of clinician burnout, stress, depression, and suicide. Its network of more than 200 organizations works toward evidence-based, multidisciplinary solutions and gives members access to an information hub, research, and self-care and professional development resources.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is nurse burnout? Burnout is the physical and mental toll of providing patient care or working in emergencies over too long a stretch. SAMHSA breaks it into two parts: burnout itself and secondary traumatic stress, the strain of absorbing others' trauma.
What are the signs of nurse burnout? Common signs include fatigue, dreading work, feeling underappreciated, and being constantly overworked. Left unchecked, burnout leads to poor performance, medical errors, high turnover, and serious mental health risks.
Which nurses are most at risk of burnout? Any nurse can burn out, but it hits oncology, critical care, and ICU roles harder because of the high-pressure environment. Emergency room nurses also appear to burn out more often than nurses in other specialties.
How can nurses prevent burnout? Build strong relationships at work and home, set boundaries between the two, get enough sleep, care for your physical and mental health, and use therapy or employee assistance programs. Regulating your shift schedule and avoiding overloaded responsibilities helps too.
How does the nursing shortage fuel burnout? Thin staffing raises stress and dissatisfaction and pushes nurses to work longer or double shifts. The AACN projects more than 1 million RNs will retire by 2030, and schools have not expanded fast enough, so remaining nurses absorb the extra load.
Where can nurses find help for burnout? Most major healthcare centers offer free or low-cost Employee Assistance Programs covering therapy and referrals. NIOSH, SAMHSA, and the National Academy of Medicine's Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being also publish free resources.
If burnout is affecting you personally, this is a sensitive area and worth taking seriously. Reaching out to a counselor, an employee assistance program, or a trusted colleague is a reasonable next step, and support is available if you want help finding it.