Reply With QuoteBurnout among nurses has been studied and documented pretty well.
You can find more info on these websites.
Frazzled, Fried...Finished? A Guide to Help Nurses Find Balance: Joan C. Borgatti, RN, MEd:"It's quite possible that nursing is one of the most underrated and misunderstood professions. The public adores nurses, but they just don't 'get' that nursing is a complex and demanding profession that exacts a toll on every nurse who gives patient care his or her all. And surprisingly, I think that sometimes nurses don't get it either. Nurses don't get how extraordinary they are, or all they bring to their practice. Instead, they run at full speed trying to do all that's asked of them and then some. Here we sit, in the middle of a severe nursing shortage, as many exhausted and burned-out nurses struggle to make it from one shift to the next. Where did the idealism go? When did the hopes so many nurses started out with disappear? And more importantly, how can nurses find it again?"
http://www.booklocker.com/books/1659.html
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Sunday, 16 January 2005: Self-Care: Why Is It So Hard?:"Although self-care activities should be common sense, "nurses often tend to put everyone else's needs ahead of their own [and are] so caught up in their professional life and its demands that they don't seem to have the time or energy to take care of themselves" (Swanson, 2004, p. 8). Some work environments actually seem to promote self-neglect. Such environments are recognizable by "hall talk," which goes something like this: "Oh, I'm just frantic this week; I have so many deadlines I couldn't accomplish them if I cloned myself 10 times.""I know what you mean, I haven't eaten dinner with my family once this week, and tonight will be no exception.""My work weeks typically average 55 to 60 hours, and I still can't seem to get on top of the demands."
http://www.rednova.com/news/display/?id=119442
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Monday, January 03, 2005: Arizona: Nursing grads face burnout as business shifts by Beth Cochran:"Twenty-five years ago, Donald Daien graduated summa cum laude from ASU's nursing college. With diploma in hand, the idealistic student ventured into the world to comfort sick people. "People are most important to me so I decided to do something to help others...and chose nursing because it afforded the most direct and continuous patient contact," Daien said. "I felt that I could really make a difference as a nurse." At first things went well. Daien worked at Arizona State Hospital, Phoenix Camelback Hospital, Maricopa Medical Center and St. Luke's Hospital, among others."
http://www.statepress.com/issues/2005/01/03/news/690721
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More Like This: http://www.nursefriendly.com/burnout/
Andrew Lopez, RN
http://www.4nursing.com
