Nurses aren’t just there to treat illnesses or injuries. These caregivers also comfort, educate, and advocate for their patients and their families, in addition to a bunch of other tasks. Plus, most RNs are working long shifts away from their homes, separated from their own friends and families, so not only do they struggle with patient care, but they also deal with feelings of loneliness, homesickness, and nurse burnout.
In case you didn’t know, November 3 is National Stress Awareness Day, so it’s the perfect time to get real about burnout. Nurse burnout, or otherwise known as “compassion fatigue,” is a breakdown in an RN’s physical, mental, and emotional state and it usually occurs as a result of being overwhelmed, overworked, and underappreciated.
But not many nurses feel this way, right? A recent survey showed that a whopping 63 percent of nurses have experienced burnout because of their job. So, what do we do about this? Hot take: We give nurses the chance to care for themselves before they tend to patients. Gasp!
There’s a very specific recipe for burnout and no, it’s not sugar, spice, or anything nice. There are three very specific components to nurse burnout, and they are:
When you add these three pieces together, you would get the perfect trifecta for burnout.
One indicator that you’re approaching compassion fatigue is when you start to feel depleted emotionally and mentally. Oddly enough, stress levels tend to skyrocket when it feels like you carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. Who knew?
“Burnout can occur when you’re not just physically tired, but you are emotionally exhausted,” said Ashley Neuman, LPCC-S. “It’s when you don’t have the motivation to get up, get moving, and finish that one last clinical note. That emotional weight becomes heavier and heavier every day.”
Do you remember what sparked your passion for nursing? When you start to forget your why, or depersonalize, you stop caring, that intrinsic motivation disappears, and you become a shell of yourself. Depersonalization caused by burnout can lead to or increase the loss of job fulfillment and escalate emotional exhaustion to a whole new level.
Compassion fatigue can take your proudest moments and achievements and stomp them in the dirt right in front of you. The monumental accomplishments you would have previously been thrilled to brag about become no biggie and your daily wins are totally obsolete.
General nursing job duties also have a role in nurse burnout. Things like handling the death of patients, comforting grieving family members, collaborating with difficult coworkers, having limited autonomy, and sometimes a language barrier between caregiver and patient are major challenges nurses face. And all of that is just “part of the job.”
As one of the most trusted professions in the U.S., RNs are expected to stay on the top of their nursing game at all times. The only problem with that is nurses are humans with real emotions and valid feelings, so you can see the dilemma.
I don’t know about you, but my mom always told me you can’t do anything in life that doesn’t affect someone else. The same is true for nurse burnout. When RNs feel compassion exhaustion, they may become distracted and forgetful, which can then lead to medical mistakes, pharmaceutical dosage errors, and even increased rates of patient infections. And if things do go haywire, nurses who are burned out have a slower reaction time to urgent cases, which isn’t good for anyone.
Nurses make such a great impact in our lives, they deserve to feel like their best selves every day on the job, and burnout makes that nearly impossible.
So, how do you know if you’re on track for burnout? Sometimes nurse burnout can sneak up on you with such stealth that you don’t even see it coming. Give yourself time to stop, breathe, and assess your emotions. Ask yourself these questions:
Typically, compassion fatigue occurs gradually in phases. First, you’re on top of the world! You have the energy, commitment, and desire to heal patients and to be a successful nurse. You might start to feel overwhelmed by the amount of responsibility you take on, but that won’t throw off your groove. This is the stage where you may feel like you have to prove yourself, which results in high productivity levels, high job satisfaction, and sweet, sweet optimism. But, just as Gran always said, “What goes up must come down.”
Next, life slaps you in the face (metaphorically, of course) and you become acutely aware that some days are harder to get through than others. Your feel-good vibes may start to fade as you notice more common stress symptoms like change in appetite, headaches, and fatigue.
The transition from phase two to three takes you from “meh” to constant internal screaming. This change brings intense pressure on a frequent basis and can lead to anger, chronic exhaustion, resentfulness, substance abuse, and even physical illness.
Congratulations! Now you’ve reached burnout. Everyone has their own personal levels of tolerance, so the effects of this stage will look different depending on the person. Some experience chronic headaches and feel empty, while another might neglect their needs and isolate themselves from others. If, by this phase, you haven’t phoned a friend or sought help in some other way, shape, or form, this is the time to do it.
If you exceed burnout and reach habitual burnout, welcome to your new life, and not in the good way. By this point, the ongoing mental, physical, and emotional stress is so embedded in your life, it’s a part of who you are. Say hello to the new you.
Woof, nurse burnout is a lot to handle. The good news is there are healthy ways to cope that can help avoid or escape from compassion fatigue. Here are some hot tips to get to the light at the end of a very dark tunnel:
Nurse burnout is a crisis that’s felt by RNs in every specialty. While compassion fatigue may not be going anywhere anytime soon, more and more techniques are becoming easily available and accessible to help you cope.
Remember why you love nursing in the first place and make the switch to travel nursing with Fusion. Search through thousands of nursing jobs in picture-perfect locations and work with your personal recruiter to get to exactly where you’re meant to be. With a more flexible schedule, you can work like a boss and live like a local without the fear of quickly burning out.