Nurse Burnout

[LovingLife123]

How do you all deal with it? I knew this would happen eventually, but I was hoping it to be maybe after 10 years of practice, not 4.

I work on an emotional unit. I love my unit. Love my coworkers, my manager. But dealing with so much death and tragedy is difficult to say the least. I'm very empathetic and compassionate to my patients and their families. I feel like that can be a double edged sword though. I can feel their pain and fear. But I have nothing to give my family at home.

I'm trying to work through it. I feel like what I do is valuable and I make a difference. But I just want to crawl in a hole and hibernate from the world often.

I am taking a vacation in 2 weeks. I'm planning on another in October.

I just want to know how many deal with the bottles up emotions. Nobody can understand what I see. And I'm not one to hang with my coworkers outside of the workplace. I value my family time. Ive just been noticing my normally positive self starting to go away.

[brownbook]

What is an "emotional unit"? Perhaps it is time to transfer to a different nursing unit for you and your family's sake?