Understanding the Growing Crisis of Nurse Burnout
Nurse burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion caused by prolonged workplace stress. It’s more than just feeling stressed; it’s a chronic condition characterized by:
- Emotional exhaustion
- Depersonalization (feeling detached from your work and patients)
- A sense of reduced personal accomplishment
Nurse burnout is a major problem in the United States and around the world. A 2018 study showed that nearly one-third (31.5%) of nurses who left their jobs cited burnout as a key reason. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has made the problem even worse.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the many different causes of nurse burnout, from individual factors to systemic issues within healthcare organizations. We’ll explore how workload, work environment, emotional toll, and lack of support contribute to this growing crisis. Finally, we’ll discuss strategies for addressing and preventing burnout, both for individual nurses and for healthcare organizations as a whole.
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