Burnout in Nursing: What a Nurse Must Know to Rekindle the Flame
explanatory Essay
1034 words
The nursing profession is notorious for burnout. The place of work, scheduling, compassion fatigue and lack of support all affect the nurses’ risk of becoming burnt out. Nurses and nurse managers should be well educated on the signs of burnout in order to correct it as soon as it becomes an issue. There are many ways for nurse managers to help prevent burnout amongst their staff and there are significant benefits in reducing the burnout rate. Peery (2010, pg. 53) summarized nursing as:
Nursing is a nurturing profession, and caring is an essential component of its practice. Caring for others, however, is stressful. The goal of nursing is to help people gain a higher degree of harmony within the mind, body and soul, which generates self-knowledge, self- reverence, self- healing and self-care processes while increasing diversity. This goal may be pursued through the implementation of ten carative factors, via the human-to-human caring process and caring transactions, or clinical caritas processes.
This accurately displays the need for compassionate nursing without the consequences of burnout. Nurses ultimately become burnt out because they give selflessly and expect nothing in return. Nurses often give so much; they forget to take time for themselves.
Burnout is a special kind of occupational stress in which is triggered by a combination of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion along with worry about ones’ own ability and the value one places on his or her work. Burnout usually does not happen acutely but happens over a period of time. Burnout builds until the person experiencing it all of a sudden feels helpless and completely unsure about their choice in occupation or choice of workplace. Burnout can lead to ...
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...th during deployment as well as in the United States Army hospitals. The deployment setting can test military nursing workers in ways that are not the same as what is typical for private citizen nursing employees who practice in traditional civilian hospitals. Providing nursing care to traumatically wounded American military personnel and enemy combatants and living in rigid circumstances are cases of some of the stresses deployed nurses suffer. Depersonalization is also a huge risk factor of burnout in military nurses. One factor that is helpful in avoiding burnout in the Army setting is that physicians, RNs, LPNs and medics all cooperate in ways that may be unusual in a private citizen hospital. In the military setting, the scope of practice increases and nurses are most often times reinforced entirely by their colleagues (Lang, Patrician and Steele, 2012).
In this essay, the author
- Explains that nurses caring for psychiatric patients on a forensic unit are more susceptible to burnout due to the intense nature of the unit.
- Explains that burnout among nurses working in residential elder care facilities is extremely high. they have a huge responsibility and are more susceptible to law suits due to inadequate care.
- Explains that emotional exhaustion is the number one reason for burnout in deployed combat support hospitals. the deployment setting can test military nurses in ways that are not typical for private citizen nurses.
- Explains that nursing is a nurturing profession, and caring is an essential component of its practice. the number one sign of burnout is stress.
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- Concept Analysis Of Nurse Burnoutexplanatory essayUnderstanding Role Stress in Relation to Nurse Burnout A Concept Analysis Recent literature reports that there is a nursing shortage and it is continually increasing. Data released by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2011) projects that the shortage, would increase to 260,000 by the year 2025. AACN (2011) also reported that 13% of newly registered nurses changed jobs and 37% were ready to change within a year. A study conducted reports that there is a correlation between higher nursing workloads and nurse burnout, retention rates, job dissatisfaction and adverse patient outcomes (Vahey & Aiken, 2004). Among the nurses surveyed in the study, over 40% stated that they were suffering from burnout while 1 in 5 nurses intended
In this essay, the author
- Explains that there is a nursing shortage and it is continually increasing. the american association of colleges of nursing predicts that the shortage will increase to 260,000 by 2025.
- Explains walker and avant's concept analysis, which consists of an eight-step approach. the concept was defined and a literature search was performed.
- Explains that the literature recognizes that antecedents for role stress are very broad and can be individualized to the nurse.
- Explains that consequences are the relationship between cause and effect and the literature states that it is the event that occurs as a result of the concept.
- Explains the nurse stress scale, a questionnaire that assesses situations that could potentially be stressful. these tools are not great for primary prevent needs.
- Explains that a model case is an example that uses the concept and combines all the defining attributes of that concept.
- Defines attributes as common characteristics of concepts, which result from a specified cause. they include multidimensionality, perceptual incongruence, response pattern, hardiness, and burnout.
- Opines that the information provided in the literature has great implications for practice in many units including the writers.
1116 wordsRead More - The Problem of Nursing Burn-Outexplanatory essayOne of the most serious issues in nursing, that can affect a nurses career is nursing burn- out. According to the article “Where have all the nurses gone”, current nurses that are practicing, report high rates of job dissatisfaction (which is part of burn out) and 1 of 5 nurses may quit nursing in the next 5 years (Dworkin, 2002). Burnout is associated with nurses not coming in to work, not feeling satisfied when doing their job, high turnover rates and a lack of commitment to the work (Katisfaraki, 2013). If a nurse becomes burned- out, they may not take care of their patients as well and could make mistakes with medication administration. A study performed in the United States by Dr. Jeannie Cimiottti, shows that hospitals with high burn-out rates among nurses have higher levels UTI’s, and surgical infections (World, 2012). Nursing burnout not only affects the nurse, but it also affects the patient, the nurses’ colleagues, and the nurses’ family; nursing burn out often leads to emotional exhaustion and depression, that can effect relations and communication between the nurse effected and the person they are communicating with. This paper will cover what burn-out is, who is susceptible to burn out, and treatment and prevent nursing burn out.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that nursing burn-out is one of the most serious issues in nursing, that can affect a nurses career.
- Explains that burnout occurs when a person does not have effective coping skills to deal with the demands of the work they are performing.
- Analyzes how the maslach burnout inventory assesses healthcare professionals for burnout.
- Explains that nurses who work longer than 9-hour shifts are more likely to suffer from burn-out or quit their job.
- Explains that treatment and prevention of burnout can be in the form of many things. the most common ways to treat burn out are to have the nurse float to a different unit.
- Explains that nurses should be taught coping skills before returning to their normal assignment to prevent burn-out. stress reduction methods, mind-body training, music therapy, and relaxed breathing help prevent stress.
- Opines that nurses should prevent nursing burn out for their own health and the health of their patients.
- Explains that nursing burn out is a serious issue that all nurses are susceptible to. hospitals should teach their employees to prevent burnout by using stress-relieving activities, encouraging them to use their vacation time, and appreciating the job.
- Explains that emotional burnout, depersonalization, and lack of personal accomplishments contribute to the occurrence of burn-out in nurses.
- Describes the factors that contribute to nursing specialty and burnout in health care providers.
- Describes the occupational risk factors associated with burnout in nursing: a meta-analytic study.
2208 wordsRead More - The Importance Of Nursing Burnout In Nursingexplanatory essayThe nursing profession is one of the most physically, emotionally, and mentally taxing career fields. Working long shifts, placing other’s needs before your own, dealing with sickness and death on a regular basis, and working in a high stress environment are all precursors to developing occupational burnout in the nursing profession. Burnout refers to physical, emotional and mental exhaustion, which can lead to an emotionally detached nurse, who feels hopeless, apathetic, and unmotivated. Burnout extends beyond the affected nurse and begins to affect the care patients receive. Researchers have found that hospitals with high burnout rates have lower patient satisfaction scores (Aiken et al 2013). There are various measures that nurses can take
In this essay, the author
- Explains that the nursing profession is one of the most physically, emotionally, and mentally taxing career fields. burnout refers to physical, emotional and mental exhaustion, which can lead to an emotionally detached nurse.
- Explains that occupational burnout is a highly talked about topic in health science as more and more nurses are experiencing some form of this phenomenon.
- Explains how aiken et al investigated the relationship between the length of time nurses spent during their shift, three typical nurse outcomes (burnout, job dissatisfaction, and intention to leave the job), and shift length and patient outcomes using data from the hospital consumer assessment of healthcare providers and systems survey.
- Explains darnton-hill, nishida, and james' life-course approach to diet, nutrition and health.
- Explains that hall, l. h., johnson, j, watt, i, tsipa, a, and o’connor, d. b. (2016). healthcare staff.
- Opines that stimpfel, a. w., sloane, d. m. and aiken, l. h. (2012), the longer the shifts for hospital.
- Describes woodyard's research on the therapeutic effects of yoga and its ability to increase quality.
- Explains the importance of putting one's self first and remembering to guard your passion from outside stressors and influences.
1141 wordsRead More - Case Study: Preventing Burnout In Newly Burnted Nurseexplanatory essayTeam Name & Number: JABEER-J, Team 6 Topic: Preventing burnout in newly graduated nurses Issue: Burnout is prevalent among newly graduated nurses, affecting 1 of 5 nurses in the first three years of their career (Rudman & Gustavsson, 2011, p.293). Our goal is to prevent burnout among newly graduated nurses by minimizing the psychological distress they experience in their first few years as a nurse. Background: A current study shows that 66% of new graduate nurses experience severe burnout due to poor workplace environment (Laschinger & Fida, 2014, p. 20). Rudman and Gustavsson (2011) reported that newly graduated nurses have 50% chance of developing high levels of severe burnout during their second year post graduation (p. 292).
In this essay, the author
- Explains that burnout is prevalent among newly graduated nurses, affecting 1 of 5 nurses in the first three years of their career.
- Explains that excessive workload can lead to nurse burnout, fatigue, and absenteeism, which results in compromised patient care outcomes and increased health care costs.
- Explains that nursing shortages and a high nurse-to-patient ratio mandated by the government contribute to increased burnout rates in newly graduated nurses.
- Explains that unresolved ethical distress and moral dilemmas related to the workplace can ultimately lead to burnout and resignation from the nursing profession.
- Explains that nurses are exposed to many environmental stressors in their daily practice, such as pain, patient death, constantly evolving technology, and ethical or institutional issues. ineffective coping mechanisms are often used by novice nurses.
- Explains the organizational culture, time constraints, funding, physical environment, and teamwork, as well as the variability among units.
- Explains that it can be stressful for newly graduated nurses to transition to professional practice, which can lead to early career burnout.
- Explains that burnout in newly graduated nurses requires immediate attention to ensure nurses are not leaving the profession due to undue stress and psychological distress. our mobile app provides nurses with a resource that is accessible and easy to use, while providing healthy coping strategies.
- Explains that 66% of new graduate nurses experience severe burnout due to poor workplace environment.
- Explains that there are limited strategies currently being used to prevent burnout in new nurses. supportive management can help reduce emotional exhaustion.
- Explains that mobile apps are versatile and useful for conveying information to users. social media is a powerful tool to communicate and improve health issues in the population.
- Explains how they would share their instagram and facebook accounts with family, friends, and potential acquaintances, as well as the college of nursing and other institutions offering a nursing program.
2096 wordsRead More - Nurse Burnout Essaycomparative essayBurnout is a highly unusual type of stress disorder that is essentially characterized by emotional exhaustion, lack of empathy with patients, depersonalization, and a reduced sense of personal accomplishments. The nature of the work that healthcare practitioners perform predisposes them to emotional exhaustion. On the other hand, the lack of empathy towards patients is caused by the nurses feeling that they are underpaid and unappreciated. Numerous researches have associated burnout with the increasing rate of nurse turnover. This paper explores the causes of burnouts in nurses as well as what can be done to prevent the them.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that burnout is an unusual type of stress disorder characterized by emotional exhaustion, lack of empathy with patients, depersonalization, and a reduced sense of personal accomplishments.
- Explains that nurses experience burnout because of their unrealized expectations which result in frustration. the high turnover within the nursing fraternity results in a massive nurse shortage.
- Explains that burnouts in nurses are caused by poor management and lack of support from supervisors. nurses feel undervalued and unappreciated by physicians and patients.
- Explains that burnouts among nurses are a result of being underpaid. long working hours result in nurses experiencing emotional exhaustion. some nurses enter the profession for the wrong reasons.
- Recommends social, psychological, and empowerment strategies to prevent high burnout rates among nurses. organizations should create an open environment where nurses have an avenue for mutual support.
- Concludes that burnouts are major problems ailing the health care systems in america. the condition is characterized by lack of empathy towards the patients, emotional exhaustion, and reduced personal accomplishment.
1355 wordsRead More - Our Future as Nursesopinion essayNurses should be empathetic and compassionate caregivers. However, what happens when nurses are constantly giving their energy to compassionate care, without seeing the positive outcomes nor being able to regain energy through self-care? This eventually would lead to compassion fatigue, which often results in impairment of concentration and diminished performance ultimately leading to poor quality of care. Preventing compassion fatigue can be achieved through a strong foundation with a comprehensive education consisting of critical thinking skills, evidence-based practice, leadership, management, and delegation, which are only taught in baccalaureate nursing programs. Nurses and nursing students must be reminded or taught that in order to prevent compassion fatigue, they should not only be taking good care of their patients but also themselves.
In this essay, the author
- Opines that nurses should be empathetic and compassionate caregivers, but if they are constantly giving their energy to compassionate care, it leads to compassion fatigue, which results in impairment of concentration and diminished performance.
- Explains that all caregivers are at risk for compassion fatigue, especially nurses, since our profession is based on taking care of the ill.
- Narrates how they were shocked at the uncompassionate response of a medical-surgical nurse who gave the iv antibiotics quickly.
- Describes how they felt a sense of responsibility to help the mother feel more comfortable and trusting of the hospital staff.
- Analyzes how compassion fatigue can permanently alter a nurse's ability to give compassionate care if not addressed early.
- Opines that self-care is just as important in nursing as providing care to patients. boyle (2011) states that it is important for compassion fatigue to be integrated into every undergraduate and graduate nursing curriculum.
- Argues that the current separation in the undergraduate nursing curriculum between associate and baccalaureate degrees in nursing is dangerously lacking in topics needed to develop competent and prudent nurses.
- States that aiken, l. (2011). nurses for the future. the new england journal of medicine, 364(3), 196-
- Describes the educational levels of hospitals in the united states.
- Explains that compassion fatigue arises from relational connections nurses have with their patients or the patient's family. during the nursing program, they gained better insight into who they are and how to become a great nurse.
- Opines that the institute of medicine's goal of increasing the proportion of nurses with bachelor’s degrees from 50% to 80% by 2020 is realistic and necessary.
2155 wordsRead More - Nursing As A Pediatric Nurseexplanatory essay...s oftentimes experience “burnout”. Burnout means long-term exhaustion and a decline in interest in work. If the nurses see too many children die it can have a bad effect on them and they will no longer enjoy work. Parents tend to feel helpless when their little one is ill and may take out their frustration and angry on the nurses and doctors. The health care staff must take the time to answer parents questions and ensure them on how to help their child in recovery.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that people who want to specialize in pediatrics need to join an internship program for experience. once certified rn, you can find a job in the office of pediatrician or family doctor’s office.
- Explains that pediatric nurses can care for children from birth to 18 years of age. they can diagnose ear, nose, and throat infections and growth and development problems.
- Explains that the median annual salary for a rn was 65,000$ in 2012, while the best paid 10 percent made 94,720$ and the least paid was 4,500$.
- Explains that pediatric nursing is a special vocation that allows you to play an important role in child life when they need you most. they devote their knowledge and skills to caring for children from birth until 18
- Explains that nursing is the prevention of illness and injury and the promotion of health. a pediatric nurse is an admirable profession that impacts the lives of many children.
- Explains that the nclex-rn exam, developed by the national council of state boards of nursing, is required to become an rn.
- Explains that certification is generally not required to work as a pediatric nurse, but some employers require it.
- Explains that work experience plays a major role in how much an experienced nurse make in one year. it is emotionally draining for pediatric nurses to watch young patients withstand surgeries and painful symptoms.
1010 wordsRead More - Compassion fatiguecomparative essayBeing a nurse requires the ability to provide continuous care for another person with acute or chronic medical conditions. Providing around the clock care of another can cause emotional and physical strain on the nurses wellbeing and requires many notable traits. The most common and publically expected trait is compassion defined as a “sympathetic consciousness of another’s distress with a desire to alleviate it” (Merriam-Webster dictionary, 2011). A calling, which includes compassion and the desire to nourish, may be a strong motive that leads one to pursue a career in nursing. However, nurses must acquire the mental ability and skills to provide compassionate care in situations that may be contagious, traumatic, painful, and high stress. The nurse must also be prepared to experience stressors outside the realm of patient care. Workplace stressors such as scheduling and demanding nurse patient ratios, along with repeated exposure to the acute hardships of others predisposes caregivers, especially nurses, to develop a unique type of burn out labeled compassion fatigue (Joinson, 1992).
In this essay, the author
- Explains that being a nurse requires the ability to provide continuous care for another person with acute or chronic medical conditions.
- Explains that compassion fatigue is an issue in nursing when nurses allow themselves to develop an emotional attachment to patients under their care. the nature of the unit in which the nurse chooses to work can be a major contributor to the development.
- Explains that compassion fatigue is a negative response to multiple stressors and the unfortunate situations that can arise in the profession.
- Recommends that nurses engage self-reflection and develop a sense of self awareness on an ongoing basis to recognize factors that contribute to the development of compassion fatigue.
- Explains that nurses are at a high risk for the development of compassion fatigue, simply based on the requirements of the profession.
- Describes the resources available for countering compassion fatigue.
- Cites lombardo, b., & eyre, c. (2011). compassion fatigue: a nurse's primer.
1169 wordsRead More - The Impact Of Nursing Workloadanalytical essayA study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that “annually approximately 1.7 million hospitalized patients acquire infections while being treated for other medical conditions, and more than 98,000 of these patients will die as a result of their acquired infection” (Cimiotti et al., 2012, p. 486). It was suggested that nursing burnout has been linked to suboptimal patient care and patient dissatisfaction. Also, the study shows that if the percentage of nurses with high burnout could be reduced to 10% from an average of 30%, approximately five thousand infections would be prevented (Cimiotti et al., 2012). In summary, increasing nursing staffing and reduction burnout in RNs is a promising strategy to help control urinary and surgical infections in acute care facilities (Cimiotti et al.,
In this essay, the author
- Explains that nurses are the largest and most trusted professional group in the health care system. however, they are experiencing an ever increasing workload, which negatively impacts their ability to deliver safe patient care.
- Opines that a heavy nursing workload adversely affects both the patient and nurse. nurses are becoming disgruntled due to the failure of nursing associations to resolve this ongoing issue.
- Explains that heavy nursing workload arises from a variety of sources, including increased demand for nurses, nursing shortages, reduced staffing, and increased overtime.
- Analyzes the negative patient outcomes associated with an increased nursing workload, inadequate nurse staffing, and unstable nursing unit environments.
- Argues that increasing nursing staffing and reduction burnout in rns is a promising strategy to control urinary and surgical infections in acute care facilities.
- Analyzes how rns struggled with heavy workloads, citing cimiotti, duffield, carayon, and gurses. lack of staffing and unstable nursing units are linked to negative patient outcomes.
- Concludes that health care organizations should take immediate action to address nursing concerns about workload on a national level, with the ultimate goal of improving patient care.
1168 wordsRead More - Compassion Fatigue In Nursingexplanatory essayNurses are called to care for patients with respect, responsibility, love, empathy and compassion. Expressed by Kate Sheppard, “nurses who feel satisfied with their work feel fully engaged, energized, and a great deal of satisfaction from providing excellent care,” (2015). This care is often compromised by secondary traumatic stress and burnout, both a consequence unique to those in the health care field. Compassion fatigue, a complex phenomenon, is a modern concept rarely seen outside of nursing. In developing a theory, concept analysis is essential to the nursing profession. This concept analysis was guided by the professional quality of life (ProQOL) model, a conceptual design of compassion fatigue developed by Beth Stamm
In this essay, the author
- Explains that nurses are called to care for patients with respect, responsibility, love, empathy and compassion. this care is often compromised by secondary traumatic stress and burnout. concept analysis is essential to the nursing profession.
- Explains that compassion fatigue is a psychological and physiological response to chronic emotional and interpersonal stresses that affect those in the caregiving profession.
- Explains that burnout and secondary traumatic stress do not define compassion fatigue, but contribute to the characteristics of this nursing concept.
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