are you burnt out too?

Nurses General Nursing

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after 10 years, I am burnt. I'm burnt of the politics, hostil environments, and most of all the paperwork. How do I revitalize my nursing inner child? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.:angryfire

10 yrs in hospice; these past couple of months, i have questioned what i'm going to do, or where i'm going. i think i'm burnt to a crisp.

leslie

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Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).

Golly, I've been doing this almost a whole year, and in many ways it still seems as fresh as when I first started!

But I do see people I like and respect who feel the way you do, and I've been trying hard to think of ways to avoid it. Haven't come up with much in the way of concrete suggestions, yet. I am starting to wonder if my poor old body can handle 3x12 noc. Had to call off Sun for some weird cross between hay fever and VRE. Every sneeze an adventure.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I've been a nurse for 4 months and am already feeling some burn-out. I love my job, but hate the politics.

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I've been a nurse for 4 months and am already feeling some burn-out. I love my job, but hate the politics.

I've heard many mention "the politics". Care to share what this is?

To the OP,

I wonder if you would feel better by just browsing other job opportunities. Sometimes just knowing there are options out there helps bring a ray of hope. It also sounds like you could use a vacation of some sort. If that is possible, that might refresh you too. We live in a small house (yes I know off topic, but not really), and almost every day I look at real estate in the paper and online. It cheers me up to think that maybe someday I could have better. What about hobbies? Is there something you would like to do but never did? It sounds like you need a good dose of "take care of yourself" for a while.

My thoughts are with you

Emma

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Specializes in Too many to list.

Wow, I can so relate. That is exactly why I have had to change specialties periodically in my 24 years of nursing. What I'm finding now that I'm practicing in a new state is, more responsibility, far less delegating to other disciplines, a higher cost of living in this state, but lower pay. What I'll probably do, switch back to another type of nursing to lower stress, and pay the bills. And, yes, I'm looking at getting a non-nursing degree, which will probably pay less, but ultimately may be more rewarding at this time of my life. I just want to do something that gives me time to think, time to relate. I'm just a little tired of multi-tasking, no matter how good I am at it.

Are ornithologists making a good living? How about medical intuitives? Now there's a different kind of living...It's hard to leave what you know well how to do. Isn't it? But, sometimes, you have to listen to your inner voice, and actually make a plan. Does that sound disloyal to nursing? I think it's better than being disloyal to yourself. I am meeting so many unsatisfied nurses lately. I can not help but think that something basic has gone wrong with the way we are required to practice, doing more with less...I am not trying to discourage new nurses. They are so needed now more than ever.

I welcome them and wish them well.

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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

Leslie,

I am particularly sorry to hear you say that you are feeling it also. You have always impressed me as such a compassionate nurse and patient advocate. Maybe you could become some type of trainer for staff new to hospice or for the hospice volunteer program or something.

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Wow, I can so relate. ...

I am meeting so many unsatisfied nurses lately. I can not help but think that something basic has gone wrong with the way we are required to practice, doing more with less...I am not trying to discourage new nurses. They are so needed now more than ever.

I welcome them and wish them well.

Has anyone ever considered that one of the main causes for all the burnout we are seeing is that burnout is simply one of the results of long term sleep deficit?

I keep reading about how "deficient" my hospital school education was compared to the latest and greatest current offerings from colleges and universities, but I do have to ask what is being taught in A & P these days? We learned that the human body requires a certain amount of sleep on a regular, routine basis for effective physical and mental functioning, and all nurses were expected to keep their bodies, as well as the ones they were responsible for, in as good a condition as possible.

Has that principle been discarded due to lack of interest? Or do nurses today get some kind of immunity to bodily demands along with their superior degrees, and somehow or other their supposedly superior critical thinking skills permit them to overlook such mundane matters?

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Just because school teaches it, doesn't mean the workforce offers it. things taught in school are the idealway of doing things

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Specializes in Too many to list.
Has anyone ever considered that one of the main causes for all the burnout we are seeing is that burnout is simply one of the results of long term sleep deficit?

I keep reading about how "deficient" my hospital school education was compared to the latest and greatest current offerings from colleges and universities, but I do have to ask what is being taught in A & P these days? We learned that the human body requires a certain amount of sleep on a regular, routine basis for effective physical and mental functioning, and all nurses were expected to keep their bodies, as well as the ones they were responsible for, in as good a condition as possible.

Has that principle been discarded due to lack of interest? Or do nurses today get some kind of immunity to bodily demands along with their superior degrees, and somehow or other their supposedly superior critical thinking skills permit them to overlook such mundane matters?

Certainly sleep deprivation could be part of my current angst on night shift. However, I left my staff position on days as a Unit Manager exactly because of burn out, and that was the term I used in my exit interview. I got plenty of sleep then. Burn out means different things to different people, I suspect. And, there are so many factors involved. Yes, being responsible for the condition of your own mind/body/spirit is required to do any job well.

And, by the way, I have always had the utmost respect for diploma nurses. When I was a student (many years ago), and as a graduate nurse, I so wished I had the opportunity to be immersed in a diploma program for the unequalled excellence of that clinical training. I still believe those amazing programs produced nurses that were prepared to step in and do the job from their first days as a graduates, because they were already doing it during their training. As it is, most of us had to learn on the job what there was not time for in school.

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

I don't think being burnt out means that somoene's lost their passion for nursing.

I'm already burnt out on the politics and pettiness in healthcare. Yes i've been a nurse for 2 years yet i've been in healthcare a total of 13 years.

So why continue in it? I like what i do, i don't necessarily like who i do it for. However, you can't just pick up and go somewhere else sometimes, d/t obligations.

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
I've heard many mention "the politics". Care to share what this is?

To me it means:

A lot of do as i say, not as i do crap.

Hearing the phrase "cost cutting" a LOT from the corporate doofi (plural of doofus), while they spend money in the least important areas (like redecorating their board room, and being told our benefit info is available online to save on paper).

The whole "customer service" trend. While everyone is "customer serviced" the nurse is getting **** on.

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Specializes in ICU's, every type.

been there too with the burn out. i think the problem with nursing burnout is that the reasons are as diverse as the job positions we can hold. which is also the bennefit of our profession.

now call me crazy, but my last position before moving (last week) was as an icu float, or simply a float nurse. you show up, go to your assigned floor, nurse yourself silly and clock out. no politics. a staff member drives you insane? might not see them for a month and it's easier to deal with them. many nurses hate floating, but you bypass the politics and bs and simply focus on nursing.

i've only done icu/er work and that is my calling, but i have found that simply a group of people (the unit where you work) can be your undoing and it's not the peripheral stuff. also found that the facility is the issue and you simply.... gotta go!

so i'd suggest you try a bit more to pinpoint the real specific facts that lead to your burnout and see how you can work the system (which is very flexable for nursing opportunities) and try something new. if it doesn't work out, fine tune your list more and keep searching.

very few professions have our flexability, especially in a hospital setting... try cardiac rehab, gi lab, er, peds, l&d, the floors, outpatient, pacu, same day surg. educator, wound nurse, iv team.

i don't think that we have to give up nursing with burn out, i think that we burn out before we give nursing options a good try. please consider this. i really wish we as nurses would move on way before we were totally done.

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