The Dark Side Of Nurse Burnout

The focus of every health care professional is the patient and the goal is to return the patient to optimum health where the patient can be independent. When the patient’s safety is being compromised it’s everyone’s job to fix the problem and make sure that it doesn’t happen again. However, there’s a dark side to nursing. The nurse is one of the few health care workers that have the most daily contact with the patient. The nurse plays a very important role in the patients care from teaching to simply being a listener while withholding any judgement. When the nurse to patient ratio isn’t balanced, it causes nurse burnout. Nurse burnout is when the nurse becomes “physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausted” (Michigan, S. S. (n.d.). News.

(n.d.). Retrieved August 16, 2017, from http://www.ananursespace.org/blogs/oretha-johnson/2013/09/06/what-is-nurse-burnout?ssopc=1). He used it to describe the consequences of severe stress and the high expectation of being perfect experienced by people working in professions that require the person to constantly be helping some. “Doctors and nurses, for example, who sacrifice themselves for others, would often end up being “burned out” – exhausted, listless, and unable to cope” (What is "nurse burnout?". (n.d.). Retrieved August 16, 2017, from http://www.ananursespace.org/blogs/oretha-johnson/2013/09/06/what-is-nurse-burnout?ssopc=1). The term is not only used for people working in professions that requires them to constantly be helping someone. Burnout has become a regular thing across every career. Burnout is categorized as physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion per National Nurses United. Many have the assumption that burnout and stress is the same. However, there’s a big difference stress is characterized by engagement meanwhile burnout is characterized by disengagement. A nurse that’s disengaged into what he or she is doing can cause many problems or complications. With one simple mistake a nurse makes can kill a patient on a worst-case scenario, which can cause the hospital or health care facility many legal problems. Burnout can be caused by

Nurses driven by a desire to care for others were found to be more vulnerable to nursing burnout, according to research by the American Sociological Association. Many nurses love their job they start to neglect their friends, family, and most importantly themselves. Over time the more the nurse starts to only worry about the patients meanwhile they’re losing all their close relationships with their friends and family. While worrying about the stress of losing all close ties the nurse must also worry about the about the patient. Which leads to the nurse becoming fatigued and causes nurse