Nurse Burnout

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  1. Do you think that disrespect is a factor in Nurse Burnout?

    • 18
      yes
    • 3
      No

21 members have participated

Do you think that disrespect is a factor in Nurse's burning out?

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Specializes in Education, Acute, Med/Surg, Tele, etc.

Heck yes!!!!!!!!! When I am not respected for being an RN, I get rather ticked! I feel that nurses of any certification or license should be respected for the job they do...most non-nurses wouldn't do any of the things we do if they were given the opportunity, yet yell at the moment they see a pillow turned wrong, or any nit picky thing they see! (I know it is a powerlessness deal for family if not administration on a personal level too..but still!).

It reminds me of the story of the good samaritian, but in the end the good samaritian gets chastized for not doing it for everyone he met!

So yes, I feel disrespect is a large factor in burn out! When you give all you can from the heart and mind, and get disrespect back...you don't feel that personal satisfaction that you get from even a simple smile and thank you! Heck, and we hold on to a smile and thank you to keep us going now a days...why not more respect than that???

My admin told me one day I had to fill in as a CNA one day, and I told them that I couldn't because I am RN, and really can not limit myself to the strict duties of the CNA because I would be thinking as a nurse and doing nursing by habit. They got so mad and said "why..can't you simply wipe a butt and pop a pill into their mouths like them???"...Oh my I flipped...is that all my CNA's are to you??? Is that all I am to you?

I said "let me ask you this...why don't you pop a few pills, wipe a few a**es?"

They flipped and said "well I can't...I am not trained!"..and I reminded them that they had kids and could certainly do it..so why don't they??? Again same responce..and I said..."well if you have to do training for this..why not respect the folks that have something you obviously DO NOT!"...I won the debate!!!!!

Disrespect is something I find many have put on themselves by taking what crud people give to them and not standing up right away! Too bad with nursing you are compassionate even against those that use you wrongly...we give excuses and rational to why they behave that way..and let it go. We shouldn't but realize that the moment we do that, we diss ourselves..the other nurses...and those that will follow...

But how to fix it...that is your own choice dependant on situation...I don't put up with much of it but state my mind from the start, mostly not as strong as the above situation (I had a bad day that day..LOL!)..others may differ! But don't let people walk on you if you can help it..it sets a standard for those that follow, and really isn't fair! I walk in the shoes of the nurses before me, thank goodness they were rather bold, and I will do the same!

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Perhaps a lack of appreciation may be a factor, but don't think I'd call that disrespect particularly. I tend not to put up with disrespect. I'm a native New Yorker - we don't put up with crap! LOL :rotfl:

For me, the largest factor in burnout is simply boredom. I just get to the point where I'm not learning anything new, and am only going through the same motions day after day. When I get to that point I know its time to move on.

The only time this was not the case for me was when I worked NICU. This was when it was a brand new specialty, and we had babies dying left, right and all over the place. And so many of the ones who did survive did so with CP, blindness, profound retardation, or couldn't be weened off the ventilators. It just got to be too much, so I quit. I hated working soooo hard to save them and have them wind up almost worse than if they'd died. Families were bankrupt, lots of divorces etc. - was too much to handle for me.

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sorry about your boredom. Does your workplace have staff training/development classes for u to look into?

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I think that disrespect is one of the factors to feel that way. I am burned out because I find that higher ups just keep adding more responsibilities, I FEEL THEY DO NOT CARE AS LONG AS YOU GET THE WORK DONE, such as doing phlebotomy, doing what a respiratory therapist do, wound care, passing trays!, starting IVs. These tasks take me away from my patient care. I am still working as a nurse because I chose this profession, to be a caregiver. #1) I complained about doing phlebotomy, starting January 1st, our unit will have a phlebotomist drawing blood for stats and timed tests. One less task that involves time. #2) I also complained about not enough equipment to use, thermometers, blood pressure cuffs that do not work, pulse ox. #3) Docs handwriting that sometimes take 5 nurses to interpret. WHAT A WASTE OF OUR TIME!!!

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

All one has to do is read many threads here to have that answer. And that answer would be "yes". Respect (or lack of it) is shown in many ways, from doctors' behavior toward us to the wages we earn commensurate with our experience and risks we take. There is a real lack of respect in many sectors of nursing today. That is the truth.

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Looks like everyone here hit the points pretty well. Yes, there is a lot of disrespect for nurses out there, but when I run into it, I try to remember the patients/families that have treated me with a lot of respect. Not too long ago, I was at the grocery store, when a lady walked up to me, "You don't remember me probably, but I am the sister of Mrs. *** that you took care of...... I just wanted to thank you for all your help." I think that was good for another year of nursing. That offset the complaint a patient filed against me for "being too cheerful."

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