Highest nursing burnout areas?

wee kiwi · Jan 14, 2010

Hi there, dont let the horror stories put you off!

You do have to be picky about what you do when you finish training. Find out what the ratios eg nurse to patient are in the area your living in and the area you want to work in. Generally ward/bedside nursing I found was the most stressful esp when the ratios were too high, eg 1 nurse to 6-7 patients.

Depends on their level of need too. When I first finished training I went into a neuro ward as everyone told me I should get some basic bedside experiance. I burnt out within the year as we had a very heavy workload (eg 4-5 dense stroke patients) and many patients died, which I had no experiance with. I felt too young to have the responsibility I did and the more experianced nurses were also really stressed and unable to support me.

After that I went into womens health bedside nursing which was much better, lighter workload, interesting and good support from senior staff. Ive since worked in recovery (great job), theatre and cardiac cath labs. These jobs are better as you can only have so many patients and no more, where as on the wards its not uncommon to "have" to take on an extra patient. I havent worked in a clinic so cant comment on that. If you know what area you want to work in go for it, dont waste your time in an awful job because other people said you should. I wish you all the best and my only advice would be to do what's right for you and the rest will follow.

SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN · Jan 14, 2010

I know there are a lot of threads on nursing burnout in here, but I want to know what areas have the highest burnout rates?
Thanks!

A poorly run Medical Surgical Floor or LTC facility. Runners up are poorly run ERs, ICUs, and ORs. Just my observation. :twocents:

Lonestarrn02 · Jan 14, 2010

I worked Hospice as a RN field case manager for 3+ years,it was and probably will be the most rewarding job i've ever done but it's the type of work you cant turn off at 5:00. my patients consumed every part of my life, it defined who I was after awhile, but what great and bittersweet memories I have..

Multicollinearity, BSN, RN · Jan 14, 2010

I've read psych has a high burn out rate. Interacting with psych patients all day long can really drain you. It's kind of ironic because I've read nurses here on allnurses saying go into psych if you are feeling burned out (not a good move, probably).

leslie :-D · Jan 14, 2010

i think the bottom line is, regardless of the specialty...

if a nurse's plate is sooo full that s/he cannot possibly complete her workload, that will burn her out.

it really has to do with the demands and expectations put on the nurse.

too much to do, with minimal/no assistance, is a surefire way to burn yourself out.

leslie

McBx3 · Jan 15, 2010

I agree with Leslie... any time the workload is impossibly too much, burnout is possible. I worked on a med-surg unit that was consistently understaffed (the famous night I remember is when each of us has 10 - 12 pts apiece, w/o regard to acuity... AND it was my first night as charge [w/ pts]. It was HORRIBLE!), and I had major burnout - this only took a little under a year. I took time off to start a family, and here it is 4.5 years later, and I am finally returning (well, trying to LOL) to work. One thing for sure: I will NOT work med-surg anytime soon!

As for the differences in bedside & clinic, I have limited experience in clinic, but the main thing is that in bedside care, you do most of the pt care (the docs are only there for a few minutes at a time) and clinics, you mostly just take vitals and interview the pt, then the doc takes over... My experience was in a general practice clinich, though, so I am not sure about an OB office.

Whatever you decide, GOOD LUCK!

CGB1 · Sep 23, 2012

This is a great question. I have only been an RN for a year and four months, and I find myself getting fried already on a med-surg floor. All the rooms are single, so either patients are on contact, or they often have some behavioral issue that makes it so they can not be cohorted. I find I often spend more time dealing with behavioral problems than actually tending to the physical reasons for admission. I think the fact that it is a teaching hospital doesn't help either. With the next batch of residents and students constantly making order errors and what not, the frustration can become overwhelming. I think the comment about how a floor is run is so true. Real support and hands on management could make a difference for sure. This is my first nursing job, and I feel like I will tough it out for another year, but after that I really want to move away from med-surg. I am debating ED or ICU. I am sure those environments are stressful as well, but I feel that once I start expanding my skill set in a new environment I will become reinvigorated. Good luck in your career

NoviceRN10 · Sep 23, 2012

I think that med-surge is a high burnout area. Whenever I float to that unit there are always new faces. Nobody stays long. I am glad that I dodged that bullet when I got my first job, I know I applied for that unit and every other one in the hospital!

giveface · Sep 23, 2012

I think every practice area has its pros and cons, some more cons than others, obviously. I've done med/surg and psych. I have to say that med/surg workload was just not feasible and it burned me out after not too long. But psych also has its challenges, such as people with very dysfunctional ways of looking at life, the world and other people (including nurses and doctors). PDs can easily give you the worst shift in your life. And let's not even touch on how strange, miserable and awful some psychiatrists can be to work with...

BlueDevil,DNP, DNP, RN · Sep 24, 2012

I don't know why someone bumped a two year old thread, but as I have an unequivocal answer, I'll hand it out, lol. I don't have the source anymore, but I did see data a few years ago that demonstrated that across the board, controlling for all other factors, burn units had the highest "burnout," rate hands down, presumed to be due to the nature of the work itself. So for what it's worth, there you have it.

PennyWise · Sep 24, 2012

I wonder if there are any official studies done on this? I'd be interested in what they have to say.

IMO, the burnout from M/S units and LTC facilities would probably lead the list. The problems these places face are too many to list. Other specialties have their own problems to overcome, but these two areas deal with that and more. For me, it comes down to unsafe staffing. The M/S and LTC facilities are given ratios that are TERRIBLE. So, even if everything is in place and all is going well, they still are practicing under unsafe conditions. Then, you have the days where staffing is not ideal.......and they get pushed even further over the ledge.

Now most people would read this and say: "Well, everyone deals with poor staffing, not just M/S and LTC." To a point they are right. What people who have not worked in the environment don't understand is, there is a level of respect given to other specialties that is not given to M/S and LTC. So, say for instance, the ICU is short staffed. The Nursing Supervisor will do everything and anything to make it right. Patients will be pushed out of said ICU onto step downs (and M/S) before they are ready, people will be floated here/there in a way to accommodate the ICU...........there is much more effort to right the ship than with other units.

On the other hand, if staffing is unsafe on a M/S unit, the attitude is: "Well, you are M/S, high patient ratios is what you do because you can't handle high acuity patients." No extra effort to fix it or accommodations made.

Never mind that there are patients on the M/S unit who are well out of the scope of what level of functioning a M/S patient should be. Heck, my preceptor at my very first job used to say to me "I don't know what they are doing sending us these patients who need monitoring. Used to be, I could handle a load of 8 or 10 patients without a hitch. BUT.....all but one or two of them were patients with simple medical needs. They'd all get up, go to the BR on their own, needed very little help with anything other than having their pills handed to them. These days, we have 6 patients, but two of them should be in the ICU. So, we basically have an ICU assignment plus four more to watch. It doesn't work." I see her point these days. My current unit is terribly understaffed, but it is not M/S or LTC........so when we are really in trouble, the powers that be care enough to at least attempt to fix it. Not so on my old M/S units.

Thats why they burn out so fast.