Preventing Nurse Burnout after the Covid-19 Pandemic

[Mqlnurse]

The work of a nurse to have compassion and provide healing day in and day weighs heavily on the human body. We use our mind and body to critically think in complex ways most other professions couldn't even fathom. The work of healing, teaching, and saving lives changes us as a person not only as a nurse. 

At the beginning of everyone's nursing career, it is exciting to get your first nursing job and take care of patients from all different walks of life. It is exciting to learn new things and learn how to use those crucial critical thinking skills we all heard about in nursing school. But what no one warns you of is the sadness, guilt, and overcoming burnout that eventually takes over your body. In one shift we can take care of a new baby, a dying patient, and a tragic accident. These things stick with us, no matter how hard we try to push them deeper and deeper down. Each shift we are changed as a nurse and this is not always for the better. 

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, healthcare has experienced a mass nursing exodus due to the unbearable stress and burnout. This is a direct result of nursing shortages, unsafe patient ratios, and failed leadership. Nurses went from being praised and celebrated during the beginning of the pandemic to now being thrown to the wolves, so to speak. We are handed some of the sickest patients this decade has ever seen but given the least amount of resources we have ever had. How is this fair? How did we end up like this? These are questions I as a nurse ask myself each shift. 

The unimaginable demand and constant guilt we have endured to pick up more and more shifts over the past couple of years has taken a dramatic toll on each nurse's well-being in this country. This along with the constant mental fight of dealing with watching our patients be so sick and without a family has caused many nurses to have an increase in mental illness. This should not be an issue. We should not have to receive additional medical or mental health care due to our job being so disrespectful or us as human beings. Many media and news outlets wonder why we cannot safely staff the country's hospitals anymore- this is why. Nurses are not the issue, it is the hospital organizations. The constant greed for more money and more attention without a single thought about the consequences their staff might face. One thing I know for sure; they won't care about those things one day when there are no more nurses to staff their hospitals. 

Nurse burnout must come to an end before there are no nurses left. We are quickly losing our passion and drive for the profession simply because we are not supported anymore. Without government and hospital organizations seeking out opportunities to make a real change, this issue will continue to increase and nurses will continue to leave. A human can only be expected to endure so much from a job, and it should not cost their well-being. 

[simplminz]

I am nearing retirement and finding a new job is as anxiety producing as remaining in the nursing job I currently have. Covid certainly has made work challenging but I have to say it wasn’t good before Covid. Even before Covid we had limited staff and quality of care suffered. Then and now I don’t feel I am giving the care my patients need.  I’m so envious of  those who have been able to leave nursing. What is the answer to this? I don’t feel that nurses in my facility are cohesive enough to work together toward change. I see fracturing of relationships of nurses between units. 

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

I agree with the above, we were thrown to the wolves before the pandemic, during the pandemic and after the pandemic.  

I think the pandemic did indeed highlight endemic issues.

The years 2020 and 2021, while I made the most money I've made ever, was also the closest I've come to burnout.  I've done a reset in 2022 and made a whole lot less money by not working overtime but I'm feeling better about moving forward even though we are still short staffed, and we're about to enter our busy season here in Florida.  It's rough, it's always been rough, and I'm not hopeful it will change before I retire in the next five to seven years.  

 

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

I'm one of the nurses that took early retirement due to the terrible working conditions.  Things are worse than ever at the hospital and its corporate system, and it is by design in my opinion.  The corporate behometh that took over started the staff cutting before covid so we already had a mass exodus of nurses before covid hit.  When it hit more nurses left and it was basically a few old timers, travelers and a few new grads and they would leave within six months even things were so bad.

All I can say, is you have to do what is right for you.  Some hospitals are better than others.  Many of my coworkers left to competitor hospital systems that have better staffing and support or clinic jobs.  I don't think all places are bad.  You are probably working in a large corporate system that is short staffed by design.  

I would look for another job elsewhere for another system, if possible, also look for clinic or outpatient jobs.  Research jobs on nurse reviews on Glassdoor and Indeed before you take your next one.  You are more likely to find better working conditions in a clinic, although that is not a guarantee.  In the meantime, just work your scheduled hours and say no to overtime.  It is not your responsibility to fix their staffing problems!  

I like the Nurse Liz YouTube site for nursing information.  She talks about timely issues in nursing.  There was a recent live on Red Flags to Avoid when looking for a new job.  Check her site out for more helpful advice and it is under her Live.  I wasn't able to download it.