Question

How can a nurse differentiate between the typical stress experienced by all healthcare professionals and burnout?

Answer 1

The life of most of the health care professionals are highly stressful because of several reasons, mainly they have to deal with unpredictable medical conditions, have excessive workloads and working hours, in some areas salaries are also inadequate. High level of stress leads to many kind of health problems. One of the studies conducted by a leading Canadian journal found that nearly half ( 45%) of the health care professionals reported highly stressful workdays. Most of them experience some of these characteristics like inability to relax, doing several things at once, over planning each day, impatience with delays, chronic urgency, overcommitment etc

Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained and unable to meet constant demands. Burnout reduce productivity and increase your feeling of helplessness and hopelessness.