Mangaing Stress to Prevent Burnout
Managing Stress: The Prevention of Burnout
Heather A. Ingalls
Chamberlain College of Nursing
NR 351: Transitions in the Professions
Summer A 2010
Managing Stress: The Prevention of Burnout Farrington (1997) stated “Stress has been identified as possibly the greatest reason why so many qualified nurses give up nursing” (p. 44). Stress leads to burnout which leads to nurses no longer being nurses either by personal choice or by some incident that happened that has caused this nurse to no longer practice. This paper will discuss and define stressors for the professional nurse and explain burnout as well as strategies to manage the stress and prevent burnout. Lastly it will go over a case study and discuss some examples the nurse used to decrease stress and prevent his or her burnout.
Definition of Stressors and Burnout
Stressors can be thought of as physical, psychological, or social force that puts real or perceived demands on the body, emotions, mind, or spirit of an individual. Nurses can have personal stressors and stressors brought on by the company they work for. Examples of personal stressors would include marital problems, financial concerns, and possibly problems with children just to name a few. Company stressors are “professional latitude and role problems such as inconsistencies in patient care, conflict, clinical demands and workload” (Farrington, 1997, p. 44). This could include the nurse to patient ratio, mandatory overtime, and working within strict budget, limiting the care a nurse is able to provide, and dealing with the emotions that come when a patient is unable to be saved.
Taormina and Law (2000) describe “burnout as a state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion found in people who work intensively with other people in emotionally demanding situations” (p. 89). Van Den Tooren and De Jonge (2008), conducted a study in a Dutch Nursing Home and found the top three reasons for burnout were emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a
Heather A. Ingalls
Chamberlain College of Nursing
NR 351: Transitions in the Professions
Summer A 2010
Managing Stress: The Prevention of Burnout Farrington (1997) stated “Stress has been identified as possibly the greatest reason why so many qualified nurses give up nursing” (p. 44). Stress leads to burnout which leads to nurses no longer being nurses either by personal choice or by some incident that happened that has caused this nurse to no longer practice. This paper will discuss and define stressors for the professional nurse and explain burnout as well as strategies to manage the stress and prevent burnout. Lastly it will go over a case study and discuss some examples the nurse used to decrease stress and prevent his or her burnout.
Definition of Stressors and Burnout
Stressors can be thought of as physical, psychological, or social force that puts real or perceived demands on the body, emotions, mind, or spirit of an individual. Nurses can have personal stressors and stressors brought on by the company they work for. Examples of personal stressors would include marital problems, financial concerns, and possibly problems with children just to name a few. Company stressors are “professional latitude and role problems such as inconsistencies in patient care, conflict, clinical demands and workload” (Farrington, 1997, p. 44). This could include the nurse to patient ratio, mandatory overtime, and working within strict budget, limiting the care a nurse is able to provide, and dealing with the emotions that come when a patient is unable to be saved.
Taormina and Law (2000) describe “burnout as a state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion found in people who work intensively with other people in emotionally demanding situations” (p. 89). Van Den Tooren and De Jonge (2008), conducted a study in a Dutch Nursing Home and found the top three reasons for burnout were emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a
References: Farrington, A. (1997). Clinical management. Strategies for reducing stress and burnout in nursing. British Journal of Nursing, 6(1), 44-50. Hood, L. (2010). Leddy and Pepper’s Conceptual Bases of Professional Nursing. (7th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Taormina, R., & Law, C. (2000). Approaches to preventing burnout: the effects of personal stress management and organizational socialization. Journal of Nursing Management, 8(2), 89-99. Van Den Tooren M, & De Jonge, J. (2008). Managing job stress in nursing: what kind of resources do we need? Journal of Advanced Nursing, 63(1), 75-84.