Nurse Burnout:

Who Is Taking Care of Our Caretakers?

Morrgan Burt

Prepared for

Name of Person or Organization

April 10, 2023

List of
Illustrations........................................................................................iv

Abstract……………………………………………….…………………………………………...v

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………1

Background………………………………………………………………………………1

Problem……………………………………………………………………………………1

Purpose…………………………………………………………………………………….1

Scope………………………………………………………………………………………..1

Discussion…………………………………………………………………………………………1

What is Burnout?........................................................................1

Causes of Burnout…………………………………………………………………….2

The Pandemic…………………………………………………………………..2

Impact of Burnout…………………………………………………………………….3

Impact for the Patient………………………………………………………3

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 Impact for the Nurse…………………………………………………………4

Impact for the Healthcare Organization……………………………4

Alleviating Nursing Burnout (Recommendations)………………………………4

Identify the Signs………………………………………………………………………4

Prevention………………………………………………………………………………..4

Coping Strategies………………………………………………………………………5

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………..5

Works Cited………………………………………………………………………………………6

iii
 List of Illustrations

Figure 1………………………………………………………………………..……………………2

Figure 2……………………………………………………………………………….…………….3

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 Abstract
Nursing burnout is a problem in America, that is growing at an alarming rate. Nursing burnout
leads to shortages in nurses, which exacerbates the burnout felt by other nurses. It also leads to
deterioration of the quality of care, not to mention the financial repercussions of the healthcare
institutions and organizations.

As bad as nursing burnout is, it is also preventable. In recent years, research and multiple
studies have been conducted in order to learn more about nursing burnout. As awareness
raises, burnout rates should fall, and healthy coping techniques should be developed and
maintained to keep a healthy number of nurses on staff. Devices such as yoga and meditation
have shown an increased tolerance to nursing burnout and beyond those, resilience training
has offered promising results.

However, it is up to both healthcare providers and nurses themselves to try and look after the
mental health of nurses to stop burnout. Healthcare providers should offer classes that teach
stress relief techniques and resilience training, and nurses themselves must know their limits,
be vocal about when they are getting burnt out, and look out for each other as well.

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Introduction

Background

Nurses in America are facing a growing epidemic known as nurse burnout. 62% of nurses
experience burnout (“Nurse Burnout: What Is It & How to Prevent It”). This burnout can deter
future nurses from entering the field, or it can cause nurses to find other professions, both of
which further increase the burnout other nurses feel.

Problem

Nursing burnout leads to many issues that can be felt by anyone and everyone. Burnout makes
nursing less desirable, which in turn makes nurses leave for other professions which decreases
overall quality of care in both hospital and long-term care facilities. It also leads to mental
distancing from the job, cynicism, and reduced efficacy (“Nurse Burnout: What Is It & How to
Prevent It”).

Purpose

This report aims to explore what leads to nursing burnout, the overall effects of nursing
burnout on healthcare in general and offer ideas that would attempt to reduce burnout rates.

Scope

The scope of this report will be limited to the United States, and relies heavily on statistics
compiled by other organizations, such as the American Nurses Association.

Discussion

What is Burnout?

“Burnout is the state of mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion,” (Mozafaripour).

that it is an occupational problem, and without attempts to rectify this issue, the cycle will
continue.

Causes of Burnout

Burnout is an accumulation of stress, that often cannot be pointed towards an individual event,
and as such there are many factors that lead to this state. Some of these factors are inherently
tied to being a nurse, and ultimately cannot be avoided. These include providing quality care to
patients or residents, and scheduling problems such as long shifts, changing shifts, and working
on their feet often. Other causes are systemic problems plaguing nursing, such as a nursing
shortage, which compounds scheduling issues, (“Nurse Burnout: What Is It & How to Prevent
It”).

Figure 1

Source: Mozafaripour, Sara. “Nurse Burnout: Risks, Causes, and Precautions for Nurses.”
University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences, 30 July 2020, https://www.usa.edu/blog/nurse-
burnout/.

The Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic caused additional stressors for the entire globe, particularly in
healthcare. In the United States specifically, in addition to the rest of the stressors caused by
the pandemic, there was a remarkable amount of skepticism about whether COVID-19 was a
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real thing, which added a lot of stress to frontline health workers who were taking care of the
illness. And more surprising than any other factor, a general mistrust and anger over masking
mandates by a large amount of the population.

Impact of Burnout

There are many impacts that are felt by different people that stem from nursing burnout.
Everyone from the patients and their families who must deal with the most severe effects, to
the nurses themselves, all the way up to the healthcare organization facing the financial and
employer side of things feels the consequences of high burnout rates.

Figure 2

Source: Mozafaripour, Sara. “Nurse Burnout: Risks, Causes, and Precautions for Nurses.”
University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences, 30 July 2020, https://www.usa.edu/blog/nurse-
burnout/.

Impact for the Patient

Patients receive lower quality of care when their healthcare provider is experiencing burnout.
“The burnout experience of shift-working nurses not only has a damaging impact on their
physical and mental health but also leads to loss of motivation for work and indifference toward
patients, causing more patient safety incidents, such as falls and medication errors,” (Ryu &
Shim). In healthcare, any small error can have long, unforeseen and potentially fatal
consequences, so it is imperative to keep the number of errors down.
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Impact for the Nurse

Despite the long over-arching consequences of nursing burnout, the people who feel it most
intimately are the nurses themselves. Burnout leads to constant fatigue, and compassion
fatigue, which creates a feeling of cynicism and detachment. Burnout also causes increased
anxiety and illness, (“Nurse Burnout: Causes, Symptoms, and Prevention”).

Impact for the Healthcare Organization

Nursing burnout leads to high turnover rates in healthcare, which negatively affects the bottom
line for healthcare institutions. “In addition to disruption to patient care, the loss of a nurse
leaving their position is also associated with significant financial costs, estimated from $11,000
to $90,000 per nurse with up to $8.5 million in associated wider costs,” (Kelly et al). That is a
significant amount of money, especially to smaller healthcare institutions, and if many nurses
are experiencing this burnout, those numbers can increase exponentially.

Alleviating Nursing Burnout

Identify the Signs

The first step in fighting nurse burnout is simply raising awareness of nurse burnout and
noticing the signs before they become a long-term problem. “Nursing burnout can surface in
many ways, but it is frequently related to a handful of symptoms, like fatigue, dreading going to
work, feeling underappreciated, and being constantly overworked,” (Kaple). Noticing these
signs can help identify burnout and that can lead to a quicker resolution and limit the
consequences of nurse burnout.

Prevention

Prevention is the first step in alleviating the problem. Relationships play a large part in dealing
with stress, and nursing burnout is no different. Having someone to talk to about the stress that
nurses accumulate can help monumentally when battling stress. Having boundaries between
work and home life can be a major factor as well, says Kaple. Getting enough sleep, although
easier said than done, is an important part of mental health for everyone, especially nurses.

Coping Strategies
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There are many stress-relieving strategies that an individual can employ, and they all have
varying success levels. The most important thing is that every individual can find a method that
works for them. “Mealer et al. reported a resilience training program consisting of teaching
professional techniques for dealing with cognitive behavior and increasing their resilience to
the challenges demanded by the nursing profession. They proposed that resilience can be
taught, developed, and strengthened through coping skills training,” (Oliveira et al). Meditation
and yoga are also avenues to explore with documented success in helping to relieve stress.
There are many strategies to reduce stress that are not named in this report that could
potentially also be options for nurses to investigate to reduce burnout and better handle stress
altogether.

Conclusion

In Conclusion, nursing burnout is a real problem plaguing healthcare globally, but specifically in
the United States. This form of mental and physical fatigue is problematic for everyone
involved. Patients experience lower quality of care and can have actual health repercussions
from their healthcare providers being less than optimal. Nurses themselves are unmotivated
and experience feelings of failure and lack of self-worth, which can overflow into problems in
their home and social lives as well as their work lives. Healthcare institutions and organizations
lose substantial amounts of money, time, workers and clients due to burnout. Nursing burnout
is far more preventable than would be depicted by the stats on the subject, and it is in
everyone’s best interest to keep nursing burnout to a minimum.
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Works Cited

Kaple, Timone. “Top Tips from Nurses on Dealing with Burnout.” NurseJournal, 8 Feb. 2023,

https://nursejournal.org/resources/tips-for-avoiding-nurse-burnout/

Kelly, Lesly A, et al. “Impact of Nurse Burnout on Organizational and Position Turnover.”

Nursing Outlook, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2021,

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7532952/.

Mozafaripour, Sara. “Nurse Burnout: Risks, Causes, and Precautions for Nurses.” University of

St. Augustine for Health Sciences, 30 July 2020, https://www.usa.edu/blog/nurse-

burnout/.

“Nurse Burnout: Causes, Symptoms, and Prevention.” Dr Paul's By The Sea,

https://drpaulbythesea.com/nurse-burnout/.

“Nurse Burnout: What Is It & How To Prevent It.” ANA, 17 Feb. 2023,

https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/work-environment/health-safety/nurse-

burnout-and-how-to-prevent-it.

de Oliveira, Sidney Medeiros, et al. “Prevention Actions of Burnout Syndrome in Nurses: An

Integrating Literature Review.” Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health: CP &

EMH, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 29 Mar. 2019,

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6446475/.

Ryu, I Seul, and JaeLan Shim. “The Influence of Burnout on Patient Safety Management

Activities of Shift Nurses: The Mediating Effect of Compassion Satisfaction.” International

Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, U.S. National Library of Medicine,

20 Nov. 2021, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8621116/