Blog Post on Nurse Burnout by Maeghen Erick

 . The article that I chose is “Why Good Nurses Leave the Profession” by Nachole Johnson on May 6, 2015. I chose this article because I am a CNA. I have worked in the medical field as a CNA for 10 years. When I first became a CNA, I wanted to go to school and get my degree in nursing. That was 10 years ago. Now when people ask me if I am going to school for nursing I laugh and tell them that you couldn’t pay me enough to be a nurse. I tell them that I don’t want to end up crazy. But there are a lot more reasons why nurses leave the profession.

Poor Management: This is one of the biggest issues nurses have with their bosses. Nurses feel that management doesn’t listen to anything that they have to say. They feel that management is not supportive of them. They feel like management favors one shift over the other. Well I for a fact that lots of people feel this way. There could be many different reasons that management acts the way that they do. But you will never know those reasons unless you are a manager or you find out for sure from a manager.

Lack of Advancement  Without a Degree: After going into the profession, many nurses find out that you are not able to move up the corporate ladder without an additional degree. Then there is the time away from work just to get that other degree. But when you get that degree, you will feel accomplished. You will then have what you need to move up the ladder.

Underpayment: Nurses work anywhere from 4 to 16 hour shifts. From 3 to 6 days a week. They work holidays and weekends. They sacrifice vacations and family events. Nurses always are picking up overtime to meet the needs of the patients. It’s no wonder nurses feel like they are over worked and under payed.

Too Many Tasks:  Nurses do a lot. They administer meds, take vitals, and do assessments. They also have to help the patients with dressing, bathing, and going to the bathroom. They can have anywhere from 4 to 14 patients. It’s all very time consuming. With multiple call lights going off and patients needing things all at the same time, nurses are getting stressed out fast. Nurses doing too many tasks at once are feeling burned out and the turnover rate is a lot higher.

Short Staffing: Bold subheadings and use a colon, but I think these are effective.  This is the greatest concern for nursing. So instead of the patient to nurse ratio being 4:1, it ends up being 14:1. Multitasking is what nurses do. But it is hard to do when you have too many patients. One call in or a person quitting throws the whole shift off to a bad day for whoever is working. Then nurses are eventually tired of working short and will then quit as well.

To Stay or Go? That really is the major question. It all comes down to whether you love your profession enough to put up with all the issues that come along with it. There is always going to be another profession for you to fall back on. But will it pay the same as nursing? Do you get your degree and try to move up the corporate ladder? These are all questions that you need to answer before you stay or go.

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