Nursing and Burnout

This article looks at strategies for nurses who are experiencing burnout. It describes the approaches and preventative measures that could be used to deal with this issue. It goes on to explain that the growing disparity between personal needs and workplace obligations is what causes burnout. Creating a nurse practice environment, joining social networks and support organizations outside of the job, and using nursing management and leadership skills are some ways to do this. Nurses should also be emotional intelligence as this will enable them to have the capability of understanding and managing personal emotions. The article recommends that initiating these factors will profoundly help in addressing the problems of burnout and stress that affect nurses.

Felicilda-Reynaldo, R. (2016). Taking care of ourselves to take care of others. Medsurg Nursing, 25(3), 143-144. Retrieved from http://nclive.org/cgi-bin/nclsm?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1798713359?accountid=12493

In this article, Felicilda-Reynaldo reflects on the importance of taking care of oneself as a nurse. According to Felicilda-Reynaldo, nurses are normally exposed to various occupational stressors, and this could end up affecting their mental and physical wellbeing. These stressors could result in depression, burnout, and anxiety. The mental health issues increases and thus raising the risk of substance abuse and even suicidal cases. Felicilda-Reynaldo goes ahead to indicate that critical stressors that are experienced at workplace make nurses commit errors and violate the patient safety regulations. As a result, the delivery of quality services to patients is reduced and also indicates a reduction in job satisfaction. This could also make the nurses to leave their profession. This turnover in nursing is indeed costly, and thus it could undermine the ability of a health institutions to provide quality patient care.

Khamisa, N., Oldenburg, B., Peltzer, K., & Ilic, D. (2015). Work related stress, burnout, job satisfaction and general health of nurses. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 12(1), 652-666. Retrieved from http://nclive.org/cgi-bin/nclsm?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1652348368?accountid=12493

This study involved a longitudinal design, and it sought to provide an understanding of the nature of relationships that exist between general health, stress, and burnout. The nature of nursing profession exposes nurses to experiences that lead to low job satisfaction. Khamisa et al. mentions that lack of support is linked to burnout. Also, the findings stipulate that there are strong positive correlation between the quality of patient care and job satisfaction. Besides, the staff issues were associated with the nurses’ general health. The article further notes that the level of burnout is strongly related to the general health of the nurses and job satisfaction. Notably, the findings of this study provides informed data that calls for instituting intervention practices and policies to improve on job satisfaction. These will also reduce the rate of burnout and improve the general health of the nurses.

Oxtoby, K. (2013). Where The Heart Is. Nursing Standard (through 2013), 27(51), 61. Retrieved from http://nclive.org/cgi-bin/nclsm?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1438487314?accountid=12493

Oxtoby argues that making a decision of becoming a nurse comes to as a result of immense desires to help other people. As such, these nurses find themselves deeply involved in their jobs. According to Oxtoby, nurses escape the stress and burnout through developing detachment from their jobs. This article highlights that people initially have strong desires of becoming nurses but the terrible working conditions is a major discouragement. Therefore, the article continues that nursing will remain to be a vocation to many people and the care that nurses have to their patients makes them to maintain their profession.

Wilkinson, S. (2014). How nurses can cope with stress and avoid burnout. Emergency Nurse (2014+), 22(7), 27. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7748/en.22.7.27.e1354

Wilkinson’s article draws on a systematic literature review to identify stressors in trauma nursing environment along with those in emergency. It also shows the potential effects on the nurses. This article makes an inquiry into the vast database, and it analyses six articles. From the analysis, the primary causes of stressors in a workplace were identified. According to the document, these stressors comprise of lack of time, demanding work, lack of managerial support and violence together with patient aggression. Wilkinson goes ahead to expound that staff exposure to traumatic events is a stressor that also affects the nurses’ ability to deliver quality work. These effects caused compassion fatigue, burnout, and problems of mental health. Moreover, somatic complaints, and difficulties in handling outside work are also the crucial impacts.

References

Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation. (2016). Tackling Stress and Burnout In Nurses. (2016). Australian Nursing and Midwifery Journal, 24(3), 4. Retrieved from http://nclive.org/cgi-bin/nclsm?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1815955135?accountid=12493

Felicilda-Reynaldo, R. (2016). Taking care of ourselves to take care of others. Medsurg Nursing, 25(3), 143-144. Retrieved from http://nclive.org/cgi-bin/nclsm?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1798713359?accountid=12493

Khamisa, N., Oldenburg, B., Peltzer, K., & Ilic, D. (2015). Work related stress, burnout, job satisfaction and general health of nurses. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 12(1), 652-666. Retrieved from http://nclive.org/cgi-bin/nclsm?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1652348368?accountid=12493

Oxtoby, K. (2013). Where The Heart Is. Nursing Standard (through 2013), 27(51), 61. Retrieved from http://nclive.org/cgi-bin/nclsm?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1438487314?accountid=12493

Wilkinson, S. (2014). How nurses can cope with stress and avoid burnout. Emergency Nurse (2014+), 22(7), 27. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7748/en.22.7.27.e1354