Burnout is a term nobody wants to hear, see, or experience, but it’s real. Burnout happens for a variety of reasons, but ultimately it communicates a situation where “caring for others has become a chore.” The art of nursing becomes a burden of all sorts. Nursing becomes nothing but eight or 12 hours of tasks that, when completed, will allow the nurse to go home.

Lots of things cause burnout, but ultimately it happens when the nurse stops caring for him or herself. Many factors can contribute to this, including:

• Sicker patients
• Higher patient-to-nurse ratios
• A reliance on confusing emerging technology
• Administrative demands for cost-cutting
• Administrative demands for high customer service scores

If you ask nurses what keeps them in nursing, most will say it is going home knowing that they did a good job and made a difference for their patients. It’s not about salary. Mostly it is about having control over what they do as nurses and how they do it. Lack of control is really what drives nursing satisfaction down and burnout up.

So here is a list of some things you can do to decrease stress and gain some control over your work life:

• Stop denying that you may be burned out or are becoming burned out. Listen to your body’s messages and take heed.
• Avoid isolation. You can’t do everything alone. Seek help and delegate. When you’re off duty, go out and engage in a social event. Have fun.
• Stop over-nurturing. Often nurses take on more problems than they need to. If a new grad is struggling, try to help, but don’t make it your personal mission to set him or her on the path to success. We are all adults and we are in control of our own destiny.
• Learn to say no: “No, I can’t work an extra shift this week, I’ve already done two” or “No, I can’t take that admission right now. My patient just came back from surgery and I need to assess him.” Whatever the case may be, if you really don’t think you can do another thing, simply say no.
• Delegate. Learn what you need to do yourself and what you can delegate to others. You’ll find it will all get done, and probably just as well as though you did it all yourself; you’ll just have more of you left over at the end of the day.

What are your best practices for preventing burnout?

Editor’s note: This excerpt is from the newest book in the Stressed Out Series, Stressed Out About Your Nursing Career.