Essay 1: A Response (rough draft)
Essay 1: A Response
Who is going to take care of the nurse? This is a question my mom and I ask each other anytime one of us is stressed with work. We ask it as a way of reminding each other that while our job may be to take care of others, we must take care of ourselves first. Studies show that health care worker burnout is a significant issue in our world today and our nurses and other health care workers need to be reminded to take care of themselves first. In his article “The Science of Health Care Worker Burnout: Assessing and Improving Health Care Worker Well-Being” , MD Kyle Rehder investigates the likely causes of health care worker burnout and how workers and organizations can better avoid this outcome. I agree with the ways Rehder suggests; my own view though, being a healthcare worker myself, is that it is a lot more complex than Rehder makes it seem.
Rates of burnout in healthcare are higher than in any other profession. And, while the burnout rate for physicians is the highest of all the specialties, nurse burnout is still a concern. I’m not saying burnout is okay or should be most considered in health care, but would you want workers who care for you and have your life in their hands to hate their job? No, this is a serious issue for everyone at hand. Burnout can cause more medical errors, weak relationships with patients, mental health issues, poor sleep, higher turnover rates, etc. Studies show that lower teamwork rates in jobs have a direct connection to emotional exhausted workers. This is all because once you are exhausted, you become careless and focused on getting the job done and getting home. But while those are the effects of burnout, what is the cause and how can we stop it? Rehder suggests that the 2 main drivers are institutional facts and personal factors, while I agree, what does this really mean? In my experience, health care workers aren’t appreciated enough for the work that they do. Although we have weeks for appreciation in certain specialties, I believe the appreciation should be all year. I’m not implying that gifts should be given and parties should be thrown weekly, merely that instead of going all out on appreciation one week a year, we show a respectable amount of appreciation every day. Health care is an emotionally taxing career as well as physical in some fields and feeling supported and valued at your job can go a long way as far as self-esteem and turnover rates which are both a risk of burnout.
Personal factors are also a cause of burnout. Balancing work and hobbies can be hard if you are feeling exhausted after a long day of work often. However, self care is an important part of keeping ourselves out of burnout; on days where you aren’t feeling up to it, do it anyway, show up for yourself. I’m not implying that you have to do exactly what you had planned, even a less complicated alternative would be effective. Say you planned to go to the gym for 2 hours but you’re feeling exhausted after work, instead of going home, try a walk in the park or even a simple stretch routine. In times where you feel like doing nothing, the hardest thing is to push yourself to do something. But, once you make a habit of self care it becomes easy and effective. In an emotionally taxing job like healthcare, it’s important to balance your own emotions after taking in those of your patients and their family members. Invest in calming activities like meditation, reading, or even just writing from time to time in a journal to balance your nerves after a long day. While rest is beneficial, getting too much of it can also be harmful. Avoiding burnout requires being aware of when you’re in need of a break or rest and whether you’re resting too much. Too much rest can look like getting home from work and immediately going to sleep throughout the work week and/or sleeping your off days away. These are times we need to be doing activities in order to keep the dopamine flowing.
Rehders’ research shows that positive emotions are a huge factor in avoiding burnout and this I agree with. Though burnout is not depression, they are very similar. Burnout is caused by stress at your workplace and can appear as depression because of the exhausted behavior, however depression is a psychological condition. Which means that burnout is more manageable than depression. Despite this, burnout could lead to depression if left unattended. Which is why life experiences outside of work are important. The more content you feel with your life, the more productive and less stressed you will feel at work. So things like keeping up with hobbies and your social life as well as jobs showing appreciation and understanding might just be the key. The appreciation doesn’t have to be endless praise, more so an understanding that working in healthcare can be tough and checking on workers mental health from time to time. As far as what workers can do for themselves, make those plans ! Get out of the house beyond going to work, see friends and family. Or even stay in and have a movie or yoga night. Nurture yourself, because that will help you avoid the negative feelings of burnout. And if you feel it starting to creep up, reach out for support because you might not be the only one.
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