Burnout Essay

1056 Words5 Pages
Nursing Burnout

According to McIntyre & McDonald, (2010) “Problem-solving and decision making have been ingrained in the discipline of nursing since its inception”(p.6). Today nurses are feeling at an even greater need to examine and articulate issues facing them in practice on a daily basis. Nurses are also faced with increasingly complex issues in multiple areas of practice, the need for political advocacy has emerged (McIntyre & McDonald, 2010). With a growing sense of leadership and political action, nursing advocacy has led to examination of topics in search of resolutions. High levels of work place stress and professional burnout continually affects nurses and other health care workers globally. This paper will explore this nursing issue by articulating the concepts of stress and professional burnout relative to the nursing profession. The term stress is defined as “a particular relationship between the person and the environment that is appraised by the person as taxing or as exceeding his or her resources and is endangering his or her well-being” (Wlodarczyk, & Lazarewicz, 2011 p.848). This definition focuses on how stress is connected to an individual’s awareness of their resources and environment. The term professional burnout is described as “physical, emotional and mental exhaustion that results from long-term involvement in work situations that are emotionally demanding” (Wlodarczyk, & Lazarewicz, 2011 p.848), highlighting how the work place environment is directly affecting an individual’s health and well-being. When trying to connect the concepts of stress and professional burnout, studies indicted a high level of prolonged stress leads into professional burnout (Gandi & Dagona, 2011). Professional burnout in nursing has been published in multiple professional journals including; research, ethics, nursing management, as well as other
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