Burnout is much more than feeling tired as a nurse. It is an emotional, mental, and physical reaction to stress. The demands of the nursing profession can pile up on you rapidly, and you can quickly feel unappreciated and overworked. You might also be experiencing the following:
• Dread going to work
• Mentally check out of meetings
• Spread negativity in the workplace
• Dream of retirement because you do not want to work
• You cannot imagine working for 5-10 more years as a nurse
• Constantly complain to family and friends
Burnout takes your energy away and affects your productivity. Ultimately, you might feel you have nothing to give, so you stop caring. Take heart. Burnout is avoidable, and these tips can help you.
Change Employers
An obvious choice. If you are not happy treating patients, this will not improve things. However, if you have worked in a single type of setting or worked for a single employer, it might be time to explore other avenues of work. Nursing allows you to check out new settings, patient populations, and employers.
Explore Non-Clinical Nursing Careers
If you wish to leave patient care, there are opportunities to do so. What you need are creativity and persistence. You can leverage your degree outside the clinical area through medical device sales, education, utilization review, consulting, informatics, Marketing, and medical writing.
Take a Continuing Education Class
A con-ed class can help you get excited again. You can feel empowered to make more of a difference in your patients’ lives. Select a course that will get you unstuck, like a course on billing or common medical diagnosis. You do not have to travel far as most con-ed classes are available online.
Take a Vacation
A vacation is fun, and it is also crucial for your well-being. Take a real break that does not include laundry, reorganizing furniture, or checking emails. If you skip vacations, your mental state and overall health will suffer. It will influence how you deal with your family members and how you feel about going to work daily.
Get to Know Your Co-Workers
If you are experiencing burnout, the last thing you care about is happy hours and lunch breaks with colleagues. Nurses are the best co-workers, so spend time with them while enjoying the fact that you work with genuinely good people. Please get to know them outside work and show them that you care about their well-being.
Consider Travel or Registry Work
If variety with co-workers, patients, and settings appeals to you, you might consider working in travel or registry nursing. Travel nursing will allow you to move around the country to a variety of facilities, while registry nursing permits you to move around to different organizations in your local area. If you like variety, you should look at these options that pay well and never let you get bored.
Flexibility and a schedule you desire are available now at myRN Staffing Solutions.
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