Nursing Burnout

Burnout first became a concept in the 70’s. Exhaustion, run down and overstretched are just a few symptoms. “Burnout is thought to arise from a prolonged disparity between what the person gives and receives in the work place (p3);” because of the burnout nurses experience they can’t perform there job to the best of their ability. “Strategies to Assist Prevention of Burnout in Nursing Staff,” by Fearon C and Nicol M and “Stress, Sources of Stress and ways of Coping Among Psychiatric Nursing Students,” by A Tully compare and contrast nursing students and nursing staff experiencing burnout as they work through school and their jobs. In the 70’s during the war nurses went from multi bed wards to semi and private rooms causing the nurses to have a huge workload. There was direct interaction with different kinds of people adding to the work stress causing exhaustion and then burnout. Decision making, patient care long hours and staffing issues are all part of the nurses busy day.

Nursing students are juggling work, school and family. It’s a tough field to be in but if you can survive the benefits and rewards are worth the pain. In the 80’s technology was introduced adding to the workload for nurses and students to take all this in to learn the flow. The first article explains burnout with the nursing staff and how it causes depression, anxiety, and work absences. In some rare situations some nurses did abandon there profession. Many places promote diet and exercise as a way to stay healthier and learn decompression skills after work. Studies have shown a link with positive reflection prevention in the burnout process.

Depending on which nursing facility you work in varies your stresses. Workplaces are guided to value and support there employees by giving time to mange problems. The turnover rate is very high in nurses at facilities and nursing students who can’t take the stress of the high demands of the field. Lots of facilities are pushing nurses to take vacation days and enjoy some rest and relaxation to prevent the burnout. The flip side is some cant take off due to being short handed and required to work overtime The second article explains how nursing students have occupational stress. “Occupational stress has been identified more frequently in jobs low in autonomy and highly physically and psychologically demanding (p43)”.

Working and learning environments may be stressful causing students to fail. First year nursing students have fears of death, failure, and concerns of conflicts. Some coping strategies for students are stress eating, smoking, or taking medications. Nursing students with lower stress levels knew how to use problem solving, or ask for help. Second year students were worse than first year developing illnesses. Higher expectations came into play along with deeper understanding of sympathy for patients. In clinical settings students were found to have limited coping skills with dealing with distressed patients. Our nursing educators must becareful to not overload students and be sensitive to there stress levels. Both articles have some things they agree upon on this topic. Stress in inevitable when it comes to nursing as a profession or as student.

How we deal with this is different upon every situation and person. Educators and employers are working to maintain resources available to have healthy balance. Enjoying other hobbies outside of school or work can help the person in being well rounded. Stress, conflict, heavy work load are all part of both being the nurse and the student nurse. Everyone needs a routine On the contrast side how they work out the stress is different. Nursing professionals develop bad habits smoking, drinking and not caring for patients in the right way when there stress levels rise. Nursing students may give up on the program or not have enough empathy for there patients. Working out these problems to prevent a full burnout is the goal.

Knowing there is help available and its ok to ask for it is the key. Both the student nurse and the Nurse in the workplace have stress everyday. They also have a rewarding career at the end of the day knowing they have helped someone through a problem or sickness. How we handle the stress given to us each day is a choice. Positive decisions can make for good habits. You have to a have a heart to be a nurse and to show someone else it’s going to be ok. And to be nursing student you have to be willing to sacrifice a lot to get thru it all.

Works Cited
Fearon C, Nicol M (2011), “Strategies to Assist Prevention of Burnout in
Nursing Staff. Nursing Standard. 26,14, 35-39. July 28 2011.
Tully A. (2004) Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing11, 43-47, “Stress, Sources of Stress and Ways of Coping among Psychiatric Nursing Students”.