Nursing Careers: How To Avoid Nursing Burnout

by Greg Cryns

Nursing burnout is one of the main reasons that nurses are leaving the clinical settings. This is not good news considering that this country is already in the midst of a nationwide nursing shortage. But in answer to nurse burnout, hospitals across the country are still cutting staff and 

expecting nurses to do more with less. This will do nothing but increase the risk for nursing mistakes and liability. Read on to learn more about nursing burnout and what you can do to keep it from happening to you.

Anyone who has been a nurse for any period of time knows what it means to be burnt out. You start to dread going to work, you feel that if you have to listen to one more complaint from a patient, you are going to scream. You are mentally and physically exhausted and are just looking forward to your next day off. Sound familiar?

But there are ways to help with nursing burnout. First and foremost you have got to learn to take care of yourself.  Many nurses do not take care of themselves because they think they are too busy taking care of others. They will  be overweight from stress eating, they may smoke or drink too much or they are in general poor health from the physical demands of the job.

The best thing you can do for yourself, is to make time for yourself. Start eating healthy. Skip the junk foods and eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. Drink plenty of water to help flush your system. Make it a point to relax on your days off. Go shopping, read a book or just spend time with your family. When not at work, put it out of your mind. Do not worry about the patients or worry about any mistakes that you might have made that day.

This is very important. Get plenty of sleep. Your body needs to rejuvenate itself after a hard day and the only way it can do this is with a full eight hours of sleep. If you are tired you will be more irritable and  you will be prone to make mistakes.

If you find that you just can’t stand your current nursing position anymore, consider a change in positions. Nursing is one profession that has a ton of options. You may want to move from a clinical setting and work as a consultant. There are nurses who are employed by attorneys as legal nurse consultants. The pay is better and you will be respected more.

There are many more options available for nurses. Do a search online and you will be shocked at how many opportunities you will have. If you like to travel, join a traveling nurse agency and get paid to travel the country!

So as you can see, nursing burnout is a reality, but it doesn’t have to be that way. If you are getting burnt out , then get out. Do something else with your nursing degree.