When the Bubble Bursts

One thing seems to be common among all nurses, regardless of title, specialty, experience or years in the profession. That one thing is burnout. It is well understood (or at least written about) that “reality shock” is experienced by many new graduates, usually within their first year of nursing. This reality shock, as well as burnout, manifests in feelings like depression, anxiety, fear and wondering “Did I make a mistake? Was this the right career choice?”

When the Bubble Bursts

But what about when this happens to you further into your career? Five years in? Ten years in? Twenty? What if you feel this way even when you have your 'Dream nursing job" the one you always wanted?

What do you do when your nursing bubble bursts?

Do you have good coping mechanisms?

Nurses become nurses for varied reasons. Some come into nursing because they felt it was their calling, others because they needed a stable income. Many of us are nurses because of some reason between calling and stable income.

We have entered this profession in many varying capacities and in many varied roles. Some nurses went straight into a RN program from another career or even from high school. Still other nurses have 'worked their way up' from CNAs, to LPNs, to RNs, to NPs, or Nurse Administrators, Nurse Educators etc. and of course into varying specialties such as ICU, ER, NICU, OB, OR to name a few.

We are truly a very diverse and amazing group of people!

Across this diversity there are many reasons for our stresses as nurses. These reasons have all been discussed across many venues many times. Increasing institutional financial pressure, short staffing and long work hours are all very valid and concerning reasons that contribute to nurse burnout. Those issues are issues that we hope can come to satisfying resolutions soon, for all of us. But meanwhile, while those issues get hashed out at a more global level, I want to focus on you.

Can I give you permission to take care of yourself?

I want to just bring out a few simple coping tips that I have that I hope can help you when your nursing bubble bursts. Or maybe these can help you if you already have experienced reality shock, or burnout, or whatever you want to call it. And, if you are going to work every day a miserable person (person first, nurse second), I hope that these tips can help you realize that maybe your bubble burst long ago and it could be time for a change!

Here we go

  1. You can't cure the world. It is wonderful that you care and that you want to try but you are not the only solution. Remember this when you are called and asked to work twelve hours of overtime. Again.
  2. Take your own advice. All of the education you teach to your patients at discharge? Listen to what you are saying and teach it to yourself. Along those lines..
  3. Eat healthy when at work. At the very least, in moderation.
  4. Move more. Aerobic exercise is important, your heart is also a muscle that needs exercise. And if you don't have time to go for a little walk around the block at least three times a week, you are too busy. Something has to give. ?
  5. Find a hobby that has absolutely nothing to do with healthcare. Join a book club, take ski lessons, quilting lessons, and get involved in your church and/or your community. There actually is a whole population of people out there who are not "sick" or caring for the sick!!
  6. If you are miserable at your job and scared to make a change, try making the change. You might be surprised at yourself and at how many options are out there once you jump into the water! This might involve switching shifts, switching departments or even switching companies.
  7. Make sure you go on vacation. You don't have to go to Europe, (even though that would be great!) You could even just take some overnight trips here and there. There is really nothing noble about having years of saved up PTO time if you are unhappy, miserable, and have never taken a vacation for even a few days.
  8. Realize that problems at work are not going to change overnight. There are toxic work environments and I would recommend leaving those. But some issues are issues that will always be there across every institution. Maybe you can be on a committee and try to influence change at your workplace?
  9. If you can, leave work at work. This, I admit, is the hardest for me to do! But at the very least, if you can leave some of work at work, I think your family might appreciate it.
  10. That being said, make sure that you have an outlet of someone that you can talk to about your work stresses! Even if it is only for an hour every couple of weeks, talking always helps.
  11. And lastly *admittedly this may be controversial advice* ... If, after trying all sorts of coping mechanisms and you are still burned out and miserable, may I suggest that you leave the profession? I love nursing and I only bring this up as a last ditch solution. But I want to ask, is your health and well-being worth whatever it is that you are going through and cannot seem to get out of? I don't think that it is, and there is no shame in realizing that you might be happier doing something else. If you have only been a nurse for a year or two, I would recommend that you continue to stick it out and see what happens once the reality shock settles. But if you have been doing this for years and still your bubble is burst...you might know what you have to do.

I hope that these tips have helped someone, even in a small way. If you have any tips of your own, I do encourage you to post them, because I am always trying to prevent my own burnout! And maybe through these tips, we can help each other provide the best care that we possibly can, while also taking care of ourselves.

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About guest358111

I am a RN. I enjoy my job. I actually really like it. Some days I want to scream, other days I want to laugh, every now and then I want to cry. I have to write for stress relief. Writing is better than a bunch of bad habits...http://sarahleeregisterednurse.wordpress.com/

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Specializes in ICU.

This is an awesome post that everyone should read and take heed of. You can't take care of others if you don't first take care of yourself.

It may be hard, especially when you also have a family to take care of, but make a little you time. Even if it's only 39 minutes a week. You are worth it, believe me.

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Thanks for tips and the article, greatly appreciated thanks MN LVN :yes:

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The think commenter Paul DeChant MD/MBA had it right. He's just a couple posts down in the comments of that article, as I'm typing this. He said this thinking, "may be damaging to (people) who are burned out, leading them to blame themselves." He also implies that it's not proven that some one facing burnout has low emotional intelligence, but he calls it an interesting thesis.

Burnout, I feel, comes from outside sources. IMO, people resistant to burnout have to have just enough positive emotional gain to outweigh the negative.

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Thanks for this interesting article, I found it worth quite a bit actually. Especially the five points-I really liked the one about change your perspective!

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The think commenter Paul DeChant MD/MBA had it right. He's just a couple posts down in the comments of that article, as I'm typing this. He said this thinking, "may be damaging to (people) who are burned out, leading them to blame themselves." He also implies that it's not proven that some one facing burnout has low emotional intelligence, but he calls it an interesting thesis.

Burnout, I feel, comes from outside sources. IMO, people resistant to burnout have to have just enough positive emotional gain to outweigh the negative.

It seems like there are certainly many outside sources to assist in the burnout process, wouldn't you agree? I.E. Staffing, stress, the nature of the beast( people around you don't feel well).

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