I've read posts on this forum where new nurses state that, since their first job in nursing is so very stressful, they are "burned out".
Maybe it's just a matter of syntax and I may be splitting hairs here, but that's a little too dramatic for my tastebuds. Yes, nursing is a high stress job and it will take its toll, but we learn to deal with stress by experiencing stress and developing coping mechanisms.
To say a relatively short term stressful situation has caused burn out is throwing in the towel after the first round. True burn out is more like viciously fighting the good fight and being knocked out by a hard left to the jaw in the fifteenth round.
Seasoned nurses who leave the field may do so because of burn out. New nurses who leave the field after a short sojourn quit.