Burnout is a prevalent issue among any healthcare worker, especially a travel nurse. According to the Mayo Clinic, this type of job stress is associated with exhaustion and feeling undervalued, and it’s actually fairly common. Fortunately, if you recognize the signs and triggers, you may be able to reverse this feeling and get back to loving what you do every day. Here are some of the causes of nursing burnout:
Errors carry a lot of weight
Making a mistake is a bit scarier in a hospital than an office. For example, if a salesperson makes a typing error, the client might get angry and the worker can go back and correct the mistake. If a nurse incorrectly measures medication dosage, on the other hand, it can have serious consequences for the patient’s health.
That magnitude of that responsibility can weigh heavily on nurses, as nurse Annette Tersigni explained to Everyday Health.
“I was always stressed when I worked, afraid to get sued for making a mistake or medical error,” she said.
Getting nervous every time you administer morphine or draw blood – which can happen 20 or more times each day – can take a serious toll on your mental health and lead to feeling burned out on the job. While it’s important to use caution with these tasks, it’s equally vital for nurses to trust their training and skills to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
Wanting to help others isn’t enough
Just about every nurse has the desire to help people – they wouldn’t be working in the healthcare industry otherwise. However, there needs to be a love for the job itself as well to avoid feeling burned out. Researchers from the University of Akron found that nurses who were drawn to the field primarily to help others experienced higher rates of burnout than those who pursued this career for other reasons, such as for the lifestyle nursing provides.
The good news for travel nurses is that the ability to see different parts of the country and work in a variety of environments (the lifestyle this job provides) is just about as motivating as helping others. However, nurses who are in the field mainly to lend a hand to those in need may benefit from tuning into technique.
While you can’t necessarily make a direct decision to enjoy something, there are so many options in nursing that you can certainly find something that piques your interest to avoid burnout. For instance, do you like planning and setting long-term goals? Consider looking into physical therapy jobs. Do you enjoy working in a fast-paced environment? A career as an emergency nurse may be the perfect option for you.
Nursing is like riding an emotional roller coaster
According to Merriam-Webster, the word “nurse” stems from the Latin “nutritious” or nourishing, much like nutrition or nurturing. The very basis of a nurse is his or her caring nature, so individuals in this profession can’t help but become emotionally invested in patients.
On good days, healthcare professionals celebrate wins like finally having a patient go home after spending several weeks in the intensive care unit. Bad days, on the other hand, may involve anything from a kicking and screaming patient to someone’s death. And even on those horrible days, nurses have to walk into the next patient’s room with a smile and willingness to provide quality care. The ups and downs of life are more apparent in medical facilities, and nurses must deal with that roller coaster on a daily basis.
This isn’t to suggest nurses should become totally unattached with patients. However, it’s important to balance professionalism with personality to avoid burnout. For instance, don’t take a patient’s harsh words to heart. Rather, try to understand that they’re going through a difficult time, and their actions aren’t a true representation of your work.
Working shifts
Emergencies don’t happen just from 9 to 5, so nurses often have to work in shifts to cover the 24/7 healthcare needs of the public. While this makes the world a generally safer place, long hours can put a lot of stress on nurses. It’s not unheard of for 12-hour shifts to turn into 14-hour-long nights, and a day off in between isn’t always enough to recuperate. According to research published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, this type of schedule messes with your natural sleep-wake cycle, can cause a drop in job performance and take you away from spending time with family and friends, creating an inadequate work-life balance.
Because there are a lot of factors in nursing jobs that lead to burnout, travel nurses must adopt unique perspectives and effective strategies. As with any job, there will always be bad days, but it’s important to make the most of positive experiences and search for ways to minimize negative ones.