A PRESCRIPTION FOR Burnout

“Wehave absolutely seen an increase in burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma across the healthcare populations we serve,” said Sheila Thibodeau, LCSW, CCS, CEAP. Thibodeau is Director of Operations for the Workforce Employee Assistance Program (EPA) and Training at Northern Light Health. Having worked for decades in the field, Thibodeau

BY ANNE GABBIANELLI

has seen the reality of burnout.

“While burnout has always been a high risk for those working in healthcare, the pandemic has certainly limited the ability of providers to maintain high levels of satisfaction with their work,” Thibodeau said.

Anna Green, RN-BC at Acadia Hospital best summarized why so many are in the nursing field. “I like my job because I always feel the services I produce have made a difference for people.”

Yet with this satisfaction comes a price and that’s why services like those of EPAs are vital, said Thibodeau. “With the increased demands on healthcare, many providers are expressing they have lost the sense of ‘making a difference.’”

“EAP utilization rates alone since the pandemic have doubled or tripled for many of our organizations, going from an average 3 percent up to averages over 8 percent over the past few years,” Thibodeau said.

“COVID certainly changed the way people look at things and interact,” Green said. “I’m seeing less direct interaction. Nursing has always been in person yet other services were done via Zoom and the like which worked, yet we lost some of the connection.”

Green says she was able to effectively carry on during the pandemic though. “For me it was a positive thing going into work during COVID because a lot of people were struggling and needed interaction, as did I.”

“Burnout is horrible and a casualty of the nursing career,” said Brooke Whitley Warren, BSN, RN-BC and faculty member of Eastern Maine Community College.

“The pandemic did not heighten nursing burnout itself; it only made it acceptable to talk about within our communities. The hard part is, nurses have been, and always will be essential. So for a short period of time, we could express our frustrations about burnout, but what the community should know is that we nurses had been burnt out long before.”

Retired after 30 years of nursing, Bruce Muir, RN said, “Burnout can take a toll on you both emotionally and physically, and lead to feeling defeated.” He offers to fellow nurses: “The key is to remember you are not perfect.”

Because nursing is versatile, many find ways to stay in the profession by switching jobs to alleviate the stress. One nurse shared, “Trust your gut and listen to your inner guidance.” Another said, “Keep learning. Read for knowledge and read for fun.” Others suggest daily yoga and exercise activities, vacations, and time just for you.

“We can’t expect ourselves to never experience symptoms of burnout, it’s more about noticing where we are on the spectrum at any given time and adjusting accordingly,” Thibodeau said. “Sometimes the best way to increase our compassion satisfaction is to engage in radical self care whether that is taking our lunch break, saying no to an overtime shift, or scheduling nothing on our day off.”

“The demands on healthcare workers have increased and so has the importance of recalibrating ourselves for sustainability,” Thibodeau said. “A healthcare workers’ job is literally to focus on others; sometimes the best self care is taking time to focus on yourself.”