Burnout is a syndrome that results from long-term work in a stressful environment. Because nursing involves constant emotional pressure and intense interpersonal involvement with patients, nurses are particularly vulnerable (Ribeiro et al., 2014). “Emergency nurses are even more so, since emergency nursing is characterized by unpredictability, overcrowding, and continuous confrontation with a broad range of diseases, injuries, and traumatic events” (Adriaenssens, De Gucht, & Maes, 2015). Consequences of severe burnout include emotional exhaustion, negative attitudes and feelings towards work (Ribeiro et al., 2014), decrease in occupational well-being, increase in absenteeism, higher rates of turnover, and more illness (Adriaenssens, De Gucht, & Maes, 2015). About 30% of nurses who work in emergency and critical care settings experience burnout (Adriaenssens, De Gucht, & Maes, 2015), and this is an underestimate due to a lack of reporting. Sometimes the signs and symptoms of burnout are difficult to pinpoint.
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Relevance to Nursing
Because burnout directly affects the daily lives and work of many nurses, it is imperative that the healthcare community comes together to solve this problem. Social support is essential to combat burnout rates. Since high job demand, long hours, exposure to traumatic events, and lack of organization lead to higher burnout rates, targeting these specific areas would be beneficial (Adriaenssens, De Gucht, & Maes, 2015).
Nursing burnout perpetuates a cycle that increases both burnout itself and workforce turnover, adding to the overall nursing shortage. This cycle needs to be interrupted in order to see improvement in the wellbeing of nurses everywhere and to combat the issue of the nursing shortage (Alexander, 2015). |
Furthermore, burnout has negatively affected patient safety, satisfaction, and care. Higher levels of nurse burnout are associated with decreased quality of care for patients (Poghosyan, Clarke, Finlayson, & Aiken, 2010). Burnout is directly associated with reduced work performance, putting patients at risk. Lastly, patient satisfaction is decreased in areas with high rates of nurse burnout. In a world where patient satisfaction is the gold standard, burnout is a factor that needs to be targeted (Leiter, Harvie, & Frizzell, 1998). “Increasing the availability of nurses by reducing the frequency of burnout can have a substantial effect on patient safety and the quality of care” (Alexander, 2015).