Nursing is a very stressful, hectic and intense job; no wonder many new nurses burn out easily. There are many things that add to the stress of the hospital environment, particularly nursing work, such as hospital etiquette, understaffing, corporate rules, unpleasant co-workers, unreasonable superiors, competition, clashing egos , insecurities, lack of sleep. and lack of confidence. For the new nurse in discount urban scrubs, it can be impossible to handle the overwhelming pressures and stress that comes with the job and it’s easy to feel miserable a few months or a year from now. Feeling disappointed is a common reaction for newbies where they start to hate the job and fear waking up every day and going to the hospital. It’s like your only livelihood has become waiting for your paycheck. Before long, misery leads to depression and depression leads to fatigue and illness and the feeling that you must quit to get your life back on track. This is what ‘depletion’ is.
One way to overcome burnout is to treat it like any other illness. And like any other disease, the first step to treat it is to recognize what it is and make an assessment and diagnosis. This means that the first step in curing burnout is acknowledging that you have it. You need to be aware of yourself. Some symptoms of burnout include feeling like every day is bad, feeling bored all the time, not caring about your job anymore and feeling like it’s a waste of time to think about it, feeling exhausted all the time, and wasting your time on tasks you find overwhelmingly boring or too overwhelming, and feeling like whatever you do won’t make any difference and won’t be appreciated. Burnout from work often spills over into your personal and family life as well. It can also weaken your immune system and make you susceptible to the flu, headaches, or a cold.
Once you’ve diagnosed yourself and confirmed that you are indeed experiencing burnout, it’s time to take action to reverse its effects. To combat the symptoms, you must work on your mental and physical state. You can feel and have more energy by doing physical exercise, specifically cardio. You can try jogging to work or sign up for a pilates, yoga, aerobics or dance class. All this will help you breathe better, make your blood circulate better and strengthen your immune system. Eating healthy will also contribute to a healthy body. And as you have learned, a healthy body affects a healthy mind.
Making changes to your routine is one way to break the boring and mundane cycle of your daily work. You can start with small changes like eating in a different place or ordering a different type of food that you don’t usually order. Try to be a little more adventurous! Listening to music is also very therapeutic. You can listen to background music during your breaks, on the way home or before going to bed. These are just a few examples to combat burnout. Reading poetry, being inspired by art, finding beauty in humanity, these are all tools to make you love yourself and your work again.
