Nurses and Burn out

lady constance · Jul 23, 2011

ahhhh... 27 years later, you learn to answer the phone like this:

" oh , i am so sorry that i cannot say yes... i have __________ that i must attend to today/tomorrow). i will pray that you find some one"

and yah smile while you are saying this....and yah do say a prayer for them to find some one else.

always remember this:

PEOPLE MIGHT FORGET WHAT YOU SAY OR WHAT YOU DO, BUT THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL...........

make the world a better place!

Nurse_Hagatha · Jul 23, 2011

I am on 10 months as a new nurse and want to quit every day. My floor and shift is always understaffed and they call and leave a message everyday that we are short nurses on my shift. It is never the other shifts,always mine. I barely want to work my regular shifts so I sure don't want to pick up extras. I have a stomachache starting the minute I get up on the days I work . I am a nervous wreck most of my shift so I can see why I feel burnt out already. I can't relax ever. There are other new nurses I work with who take their breaks and get out on time and seem to be handling everything fine. I guess its just me. I think it is the nervous nellies like me that get burnt out so quick because we are in such a heightened state of anxiety all the time. I wish I could just relax and trust that I am doing a good job.

I was the same way, and still am from time to time, but I have come to accept that I am only one person. I can only be in one place at one time, and when bad things happen it isn't necessarily my fault. I am not God and I do not have control over life and death. I can only do my best, and beyond that it is in God's hands. Knowing I do my best for my patients, with my unique gifts and abilities, in the often less than ideal circumstances, lets me come home and not obssess about what I could have done better.

I have learned so much from other nurses with years of experience how to be firm, set boundaries, and still be compassionate. I will never forget giving report to an older nurse, and telling her about my patient who was constantly on his call light for petty reasons. Of course, during report he put his call light on no less than 5 times. This nurse picked up the call light phone, and politely yet firmly told him, "Mr. Patient, my name is Sheila. I am going to be your nurse tonight. I am in report right now, and will be in to see you shortly. In the meantime, I need you to make a list of everything you are going to need, and any questions you have for me, and I will work on that list for you. Please do not put your call light on again until after I come to see you, unless it is an emergency or you need to get out of bed to the bathroom." When I came back the next morning, she said he had been good the entire night, and he was great for me after that too.

Anytime a family or patient starts to run me ragged, I remember her, and draw on her example. Certain people will suck the life out of others, and those people need to be put in check. My health and happiness are far more important than getting 5 stars on some crappy survey, and even if I danced around like a circus monkey, those difficult individuals still wouldn't give the hospital or nursing staff all 5's!

One of my favorite quotes is from Bill Cosby, and I think hospital administrations and the government regulating agencies should take a clue from it, and it is:

"I don't know the secret to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody."

tele jelly · Jul 23, 2011

I don't know anything official, but I have read that the first year career retention rate for nurses is awfully low....somwhere around %50!!!! Thats bad

pat8585 · Jul 23, 2011

I knew there were some unhappy nurses out there, but did not think it was this bad! But thanks for the replies!

Not burned out ........YET.

Yiggs · Jul 23, 2011

Are there any current statistics that say what percent of NEW nurses get burned out in a certain length of time?
Do new nurses leave the profession at surprising rates? (given how demanding nursing school is)

If you google new nurses+burnout or nurses+burnout+scholarly papers you should see some very interesting articles. Burnout is a topic of interest for me so I always try to read as much as I can on the issue. I read a scholarly paper recently on burn out in Physicians and it sited the reasons for burn out as heavy patient load, overwork, lack of resources coupled with 'personal issues.' I worked trauma for over 5years and was becoming burnt out after a while. I was beginning to resent the "poor" patients for no particular reason, I looked for any and every reason to call in and I always was looking for an easier assignment. The solution to my dilema was to move to a less stressful unit and that was Behavioral Health for me. Now I am more positive and more productive because I no longer feel like I am on a treadmill that I can't get off. I think the main problem is your workload may be overwhelming and the resources you have to work with inadequete. Also, if management is not supportive and minimizes the fact that the staff is overworked and overwhelmed it complicates matter. Start looking around for a job that you can pace yourself and that is not as overwhelming. Also, you have to make sure you take care of yourself as a person and find outlet to relive your stress. Hope things lighten up soon. Yiggs

Owlune · Jul 23, 2011

I have a different perspective on this one... I'm currently applying to nursing school and hope to be joining the ranks.

I have been a veterinary technician for 13 years. I work in emergency where I routinely work 14 hr shifts with no breaks, no lunch. We just eat between emergencies and take breaks if it's quiet. Technicians do everything from triage, taking radiographs, running the lab work, placing the i.v., administering meds, to monitoring the icu patients. It's exhausting. The pay for a good er tech in this area is 14-15/hr, not always with benefits. I've done if for so long because I loved it. Being bitten in the face by a 120lb rottweiler puts a new perspective on what I'm willing to sacrifice, though. (no plastic surgery needed :) )

I fully expect to have the same long hours, the shortage of help, and the stress of too many patients. Hopefully not too many human patients will be biting me in the face. It's a little frightening to see the high attrition rate... I hope that what I'm already used to will help me to avoid burnout, atleast for awhile.

rn/writer, RN · Jul 23, 2011

Sounds like thirteen years as a vet tech will give you lots of preparation for nursing. You should be fine.

joanna73, BSN, RN · Jul 23, 2011

That's the thing though....my health is the first priority. If I don't take care of myself, I can't care for my patients. I also don't want to stare at hospital walls for hours on end 5 days a week. I work 12.5 hour shifts. We all have interests outside of work, and the chronic shortage is for management to fix.

Now, I have no problem helping and working a little extra, and I do. However, there are limits even in nursing. I'm not willing to burn out for anyone. And as a second career nurse, I know....been there, done that already. I learned not to go down that path again.

tewdles, RN · Jul 23, 2011

For those readers/posters who are doing some research, check out "compassion fatigue" as part of your search.

Burn out and compassion fatigue are not a "death sentence" for a practicing bedside nurse. But their presence does require that the nurse make substantial changes in order to remain in nursing and remain healthy.

These "syndromes" can occur at anytime within a career and at any age. You can find nurses suffering from it in all specialties, inside and outside the hospital.

The important thing is to acknowledge it, discover your resources to combat it, and take action. It is helpful if you have a manager who is interested in helping you to recover, so as not to lose a valuable team member.

eriksoln, BSN, RN · Jul 24, 2011

This is really sad and scary.
When will employers realize that, while it seems cost effective to staff short, in the long run, it's much more expensive to have to keep training new people when the old ones quit. Treating nurses as disposable is soooo not cool!

:yeah: :lol2: :lol2:

OMG. "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" whet through my head as I read "soooo not cool!".

jacrabbitrn · Nov 15, 2012

I feel the same