5 Tips for Nurses To Avoid Burnout at Work

Nurses must deal with many difficulties in their work, and with many places experiencing nurse shortages, overwork and burnout are significant problems. Nurse burnout is one of the biggest challenges facing healthcare workers. We’ve put together a list of valuable tips to help nurses avoid burnout at work.
Make Time for Friends and Family
Perhaps the best resources for nurses and anyone dealing with mental health issues like burnout are friends and family. Some of the symptoms of burnout are becoming more isolated and feeling too mentally fatigued to develop and nurture interpersonal relationships.
Unfortunately, this solitary feeling feeds itself as relationships fall by the wayside, creating a vicious cycle of isolation. As difficult as it may be on some days, talking with or spending time with friends and family goes a long way in fighting burnout.
Prioritize Sleep
Another unfortunate side effect of work burnout is insomnia; like isolation, it can cause a cycle of always feeling tired. It’s crucial for nurses to maintain a healthy sleep pattern of eight hours every night due to their stressful work conditions and long shifts.
We all know that we can feel more agitated, depressed, and tired throughout the day without adequate sleep. If you’re struggling to sleep, consider investing in your health through aids that will provide more fulfilling sleep, such as sleep masks and white noise machines.
Pro Tip: Have trouble getting to sleep? Refrain from consuming caffeine, sugar, and alcohol four to six hours before bed.
Set Boundaries Between Work and Personal Life
One of the main culprits of burnout is a work-life balance that has tipped too far to one side. When someone’s life becomes too dominated by work, burnout can sap their energy and mental capacity while working.
Nurses must set meaningful boundaries between work and personal life and leave work at work. Developing relationships and hobbies outside of work helps many drop their anxieties and stresses when they’re off the clock.
Utilize Available Mental Health Services
One of the best tips we can offer to nurses to avoid burnout at work is to utilize the resources available through their employer and human resources department. Many hospitals and medical facilities offer therapeutic and counseling services for employees experiencing mental anguish or wanting to talk to someone.
Professional counselors can help you understand why you’re feeling burnout at work and develop a strategy for overcoming feelings of stress and anxiety.
Understand Your Stressors
When suffering from burnout, there are typically specific stressors that can immediately cause mental anguish in people. For nurses, these stressors can be anything from an uncooperative patient, a coworker they don’t get along with, or a specific work task.
Identifying these stressors helps many, as it makes it easier to devise a strategy for avoiding or mitigating their effect. The first step in overcoming stressors is identifying and becoming aware of them.