Burnout – Barbara Rubel – Compassion Fatigue Keynote Speaker

What is Burnout?

Barbara Rubel — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 20:39:30 +0000

It can be challenging to define burnout. Not considered to be a medical condition, the definition of burnout, as stated by the APA Dictionary of Psychology, is “physical, emotional or mental exhaustion, accompanied by decreased motivation, lowered performance and negative attitudes towards oneself and others.”

What is burnout?

Typically, burnout is brought on by drawn out or chronic stress, resulting in mental, physical or emotional fatigue. You know that it is happening when you experience emotional exhaustion, feel overwhelmed and are not able to handle ongoing responsibilities. Consider all of those responsibilities that you have in your personal and professional life. Although issues at work are the primary cause, it can also affect other facets of life including parenting, caring for others, and intimate relationships.

Burnout is a type of fatigue brought on by a constant feeling of being overwhelmed. It can occur when you are emotionally depleted, overburdened, and unable to keep up with life’s daily demands. Burnout has a detrimental impact on all aspects of life, affecting your home, job, and social life. It can drain your energy, leaving you feeling like you have nothing left to give.

Is it burnout or stress?

Stress is a normal reaction to regular or unusual stresses. It can occasionally last for a prolonged period and develop into a chronic condition. Burnout could result from this, although not necessarily. Being under constant stress doesn’t necessarily indicate that a person is being burned out.

People who lead stressful lives may experience enormous strain to the point of feeling drained, burned out, and not able to cope. Mental, physical and emotional difficulties might also be caused by stress at work. Possible contributing factors include feeling constantly overworked, continually dealing with deadlines, or having disputes with coworkers. A strong commitment to the job to the point of disregarding their own needs can also be to blame.

Many people use the words “stress” and “burnout” interchangeably. Although they can be similar, there are some significant differences. For example, stress related to a specific incident is something we all experience occasionally in life.

In contrast, burnout is a reaction to prolonged, extreme stress and results in a person feeling emotionally and physically exhausted, disillusioned, disengaged, and less effective. Burnout can lead to mental health problems including severe depression if it is not treated.

Burnout is the result of unmanaged and accumulated stress over time. Consider burnout to be the bigger, meaner big brother of stress. Generally, burnout needs stress to be present, but stress can exist without being burned out.

How is burnout different from depression?

Depression has some of the same symptoms of burnout, including fatigue, being despondent, and poor performance. Depression frequently manifests as a low sense of self-worth, feeling hopeless, and having suicidal thoughts. These are not considered to be the normal signs of burnout. Depression does not always accompany burnout. However, burnout may make someone more susceptible to developing depression.

Are you at risk for burnout?

Let’s take a reality check. Some predictors of burnout are if you:

Feel as though you never have a good day
Share an opinion that what you are doing is not worth the effort
Suffer consistently by being too tired to do anything
Consider the tasks you have to complete at work are mind-numbingly boring or overwhelming
Think that nothing you do is worthwhile
Sense that no one appreciates all the work that you do
Are experiencing a loss of motivation

Burnout symptoms

It’s no secret that getting out of bed in the morning is not the easiest task of the day. Most of us experience days when we struggle to get out of bed. Although your pillow may be filled with down and your comforter is warm and cuddly, the effort could be due to being overwhelmed or unappreciated, whether at home or at work.

Burnout develops gradually. Like obesity, vision problems or back aches, it can take time to develop as it slowly sneaks up on you. At first, the symptoms and signs are minimal, but they get worse over time.

Consider the early signs as warnings indicating something is wrong and has to be remedied. You can avoid a serious breakdown if you pay attention and properly manage your stress. Ignoring the signs can lead to burn out.

Emotional symptoms

Feeling of failure and insecurity
Feeling defeated, stuck, and helpless
Feeling alone and detached from everything
No motivation
A more pessimistic and cynical view
Diminished sense of accomplishment and life satisfaction

Your emotional wellbeing can be impacted contributing to an increased likelihood for depression, anger, irritability and anxiety.

Physical symptoms

Most of the time feeling worn out and exhausted
Sick often, weakened immunity
Pain in muscles, recurring headaches
Change in eating habit
Change in sleeping habits that bring about fatigue

Physical wellness is impacted by burnout due to the excessive stress in your body. Your physical wellbeing can be impacted contributing to an increased likelihood for heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, respiratory issues, and likelihood for death before age 45.

Cognitive symptoms

Difficulty paying attention when someone speaks
Difficulty concentrating on a task
Impaired short-term memory
Impaired judgement

Your cognitive wellbeing can be impacted contributing to an increased likelihood for making mistakes at work and poor motor coordination.

Behavioral symptoms

Withdrawing from personal and professional obligations
Excluding significant others from your life
Putting things off or taking longer to do them
Using coping mechanisms like alcohol, drugs, or food
Taking frustration and anger out on others
Not going to work or working shorter hours

Your behavioral or social wellbeing can be impacted contributing to an increased likelihood for alcohol or substance abuse, isolation from friends and family, irresponsibility with finances, anger towards family members and inability to fulfill responsibilities. Professionally, you may experience a loss of job satisfaction, an inability to do your job well, or withdraw from colleagues.

How to Recover from Burnout

We have another article on this site that covers ways to recover from burnout when you are exhibiting some of the symptoms mentioned above. Briefly, they include:

Addressing your mental health
Taking breaks throughout the day, especially when you are at work
Exercise on a regular basis
Find things to do that you enjoy

Strategies to Prevent Burnout

Barbara Rubel — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 18:26:46 +0000

Burnout is one of two elements that make up compassion fatigue, the second one is secondary traumatic stress. Typically, burnout is brought on by drawn out or chronic stress, resulting in mental, physical or emotional fatigue. You know that it is happening when you experience emotional exhaustion, feel overwhelmed and are not able to handle ongoing responsibilities. Consider all of those responsibilities that you have in your personal and professional life. Although issues at work are the primary cause, it can also affect other facets of life including parenting, caring for others, and intimate relationships.

Strategies to prevent burnout and promote well-being

Reach out to other people

Even though you may not have much energy and problems seem too big to overcome, there are things you can do to take control of the stress and reduce the risk of burnout. Reaching out and talking to other people is a good place to start. Choose someone who won’t try to fix things but is willing to listen. Having a good listener helps alleviate stress and calm your nerves.

Try to not associate with people who are negative. Being around others who complain all the time and have a negative outlook will only drag you down more.

Join a support group to talk with others facing similar concerns. Sharing with others can become a meaningful experience.

Review your priorities

Here are simple ideas worth considering:

Review those things that are most important to you and how they make you happy.
Explain times where you can slow down to rest your body and mind.
Describe different ways to say “no” to stop overextending yourself, which gives you the opportunity to say “yes” to the things you choose to do.
Evaluate times during the day or evening when you can unplug from technology, such as a computer, phone, social media and email.
Plan a new creative project or restart an old hobby that you once enjoyed.
Choose techniques such as deep breathing, yoga, tai-chi, or meditation to relax your mind and body and turn off the stress response
Evaluate ways for a better sleep as feeling tired can cause an irrational response in stressful situations

Exercise

Usually, when you’re tired and stressed out, exercising can be one of the last things you want to do. However, it is a good coping tool for burnout or stress, and one of the best mood enhancers there is. Set a goal for doing some exercise every day for at least 30 minutes. If that is too much for you to do, then break that up into separate 10-minute sessions. Actually, walking is a terrific overall exercise, anything that gets your whole body moving will help improve focus, energy level, and a sense of relaxation and wellbeing.

Healthy diet

The foods you eat have a big impact on how your feel – your mood and energy level, so a healthy diet is important. Processed or fast foods that are high in sugar and/or carbs will not sustain you throughout the day. A dependency in caffeine has the same effect, of eventually leads to a crash. Nicotine is a stimulant that can lead to even more anxiety, instead of alleviating it. Add foods to your diet that you know are healthy as they will help lower your stress levels, as well.

Take breaks

Schedule small breaks every hour or two throughout the day to walk away from what you are working on. This helps the mind to rest and the body to move, if you’ve been sitting.

Practice mindfulness

Mindfulness is considered to being present mentally and emotionally. Deep breathing can help with this because you have to focus on your breath. It also has a very calming effect. Use a few minutes of each break to practice breathing. Weather permitting, spend a few minutes doing this in the outdoors.

Organizational burnout prevention strategies and wellbeing

For Individuals:

Make a point to interact more with your coworkers. Making friends with people at work can help protect you from burnout. Instead of getting on your phone during a break, talk to someone at work and be more sociable. It is a fact of life that peers may be going through similar stressors. Yet, they have found effective strategies to cope.

Peer to peer support is a great way to manage burnout. They can offer suggestions that you might find helpful. Moreover, consider scheduling activities outside of the workplace that you can do together.

For Leaders:

Ten ways organizational leaders can improve the wellness culture in the workplace and incorporate FABULOUS Transformation is to:

Lead by example by talking about mental health and wellness, and a good work-life balance.
Share those things that you are grateful for and ask employees to do the same.
Assess whether you are micromanaging your employees and not giving them enough control or autonomy over their workflow.
Enforce the written job description by not asking an employee to do more than they are paid to do.
Evaluate ways for employees to have more flexibility.
Discuss ways to flourish and achieve personal growth by guiding employees and motivating them to make healthy decisions about their mental health.
Provide training in mindfulness and resilience to help eliminate anxiety and stress.
Establish a peer-to-peer support program.
Focus on workplace spirituality where employees can make meaning, align their values to the organization, and feel appreciated, which connects them to the outcome of their job.
Demonstrate ways for employees to be self-compassionate when they make mistakes at work and connect with them by sharing that you also make mistakes.

All things considered, to effect genuine change in terms of employee burnout, leaders must acknowledge the pressing need for wellness as a preventative measure for burnout. It’s no secret that many workplaces are being transformed since the pandemic into a “safe haven” from the chaotic, hostile, and angry outside world.

The key point is that stress in the workplace cannot be eliminated. However, compassionate leaders control how they respond to it and know how to deal with the effects on employees before they have an impact on key performance indicators like revenue and profit. The bottom line is FABULOUS Transformation is possible when you recognize the importance of a flexible mindset, a positive attitude, keeping your boundaries, being united, having a sense of humor, being optimistic, understanding job satisfaction, and being self-compassionate.

How to Avoid Caregiver Burnout

Barbara Rubel — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 16:18:04 +0000

Tips for Caring for Yourself While Caring for Others

What happens when the helper does not get help? These empathetic and compassionate caregivers are struggling with burnout. The causes of burnout for caregivers are different than the causes of burnout for those in other fields, although the symptoms are very similar. Physical exhaustion is shown through their aches and pains and the need for rest. Mental exhaustion is shown through their cloudy thinking or issues with confusion. Moreover, emotional exhaustion is expressed through sadness, frustration, and depression. These are the main reasons those with the burden of caregiving get burned out, from doing more than they are capable of because they don’t have the help they need.

What are the main causes of caregiver burnout?

Generally, people with the role of caregiver spend their time taking care of someone else and neglect taking care of themselves. For example, this may be due to fatigue and being overwhelmed by caregiving responsibilities. Sometimes the care recipient or other family members have unreasonable expectations and demands of the caregiver. Some feel guilty if they spend any time taking care of themselves, so they focus wholly on the patient’s care, and don’t recognize the signs of burnout.

Stress and conflict are created by trying to meet the demands of everyone in one’s circle – a spouse, children, employer, neighbor, and the primary caregiver themselves. In essence, there’s always too much to do, and no alone time to decompress.

Symptoms of caregiver stress

The signs of caregiver burnout and stress are pretty much the same as for those who are not caregivers who are burned out. For instance, they withdraw from others, lose interest in activities and personal relationships they once enjoyed, are irritable, get sick more frequently, have insomnia and poor sleep patterns, and do not have a healthy diet. Symptoms that could lead to suicide ideation include feeling depressed and hopeless.

How can you prevent caregiver burnout

All caregivers have stress that comes with the extra responsibility of taking care of someone else. Learning strategies to help alleviate symptoms of stress is important for both the caregiver, as well as for the individual in their care.

Tips for taking care of yourself

Recognize that your feelings and emotions are valid.
Don’t beat yourself up for what you are feeling.
Recognize that it is normal to feel anger or frustration.
When you realize that you can’t do everything that the person needs you to do, label what you are experiencing as moral distress.
After reviewing your day-to-day responsibilities, prioritize important tasks.
Make lists and set realistic goals.
Say no to things that drain your time and energy.
Try to get enough sleep and focus on what you can do at night to get ready for a restful night.
Eat healthy snacks and meals.
Appreciate moments of awe. Look up at the sky and appreciate the fresh air on a walk through a park.
Find someone you can talk to, whether a family member, a friend, or even better, caregiver support groups that can help you realize you are not alone and provide encouragement. People in a caregiving role going through what you are may have strategies for coping and helpful resources.
Research what resources you have available in your local community as a caregiver. Sometimes there are classes by healthcare professionals or groups targeted for specific diseases or conditions. Resources commonly available include meal delivery, help with housework, transportation, and respite care, which allows the caretaker some much-needed time off. Contact your local AARP or Agency on Aging for information on services in your area.

Respite care

Sometimes, family caregivers feel that they are the only one who can give quality care to their loved one. Accordingly, they can’t imagine leaving them in someone else’s care, even for a short while. It’s normal to feel guilty about taking time off, but it’s important to realize that there is no perfect caregiver.

There are three main types of respite care:

In home services – Agencies provide a nursing or health aide who comes to the home to stay with the patient on a short-term basis, providing company and/or nursing help. This can also be utilized when the patient is ill and needs additional nursing care.
Adult day care centers – A caregiver can take the patient to the center for a full or partial day of socializing, activities, medical care and other services.
Short-stay nursing homes – some facilities take patients for a short stay of more than a day when a caregiver has to be away or needs a break.

All things considered, caregivers should never think that they are alone. Although it may be hard to ask for help or take a temporary break, it is okay to do it. They need to give themselves permission to put themselves first, if not all the time, at least some of the time.

Caregiver burnout and stress are painful experiences. There is no reason for a caregiver’s poor physical health due to their empathetic nature. These amazing folks don’t have to burnout. We all need to care about the caregiver and let them know that we appreciate them. Respite means a reprieve. Don’t we all need a break every now and then? Perhaps the blisters and scorch of burnout can become a warm glow or smolder in a way that does not overwhelm these beautiful people called caregivers.

4 Symptoms of Burnout You Should Be Aware of

Barbara Rubel — Fri, 21 Oct 2022 17:00:51 +0000

You may not be aware that you are suffering from burnout. We have all gone through a traumatic experience dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Is it burnout? Is it grief? Or are we all just having a really bad hair day?

Now that you are getting back to your usual routine, you may still feel exhausted and overwhelmed by the simplest of tasks. You might get easily angry or frustrated. Self-awareness about your role is key to recognizing physical symptoms of burnout. It might be due to your role at work, your role at home, or both. Life is not easy. So, let’s look at how to recognize burnout symptoms and what your risk of burnout might be.

What is burnout?

According to Psychology Today, burnout is “a state of emotional, mental, and often physical exhaustion brought on by prolonged or repeated stress. Though it’s most often caused by problems at work, it can also appear in other areas of life, such as parenting, caretaking, or romantic relationships.” You might be burned out as you navigate your life in a post pandemic world.

Have you heard the term, “work-life integration”? That’s when you can combine your personal life with your work life. It becomes a balancing act that mixes up your job and home life in a way that works for you and those around you. For example, you might have a doctor’s appointment in the middle of the day. You may leave work early to go food shopping. You may go into work late due to a parent/teacher conference. Accordingly, you make up the time by working later at night at home or working through lunch the next day. You decide how to integrate work-life. It’s more than balance . . . it’s integration.

Burnout has been happening more lately as employees are working remotely from home, making it hard to draw a line between the two. Therefore, rather than drawing the line, integrate the line, so you have enough time for your personal/family life while you get your job done. As a result, your professional quality of life and job satisfaction are both increased while you mitigate burnout.

4 Symptoms or Signs of Burnout

Exhaustion

Exhaustion or fatigue is one of the foremost signals that you might be suffering from burnout, especially when coupled with one or more of the other symptoms that I have listed below. Wanting to sleep all the time is one of the symptoms of depression, but it can also be because of fibromyalgia, diabetes, chronic stress, sleep apnea or a thyroid disorder, just to name a few. However, if you are exhausted, have no energy, or find that normal tasks take longer to finish, you might be burned out.

Dissatisfaction or Apathy with Work

We all have days when we don’t really feel like working, but when that happens every day and becomes the norm, then there is a problem. Feelings of wondering what’s the point, not enjoying the work, or just a general feeling of dissatisfaction with the overall job can indicate that it might be time for a change. Rather than suffer through organizational challenges and a stressful job which has been shown to affect mental health and increase job burnout, you can focus on what is in your power to change.

Tension Headaches

We have all had a headache in our lives. They can really hurt whether they are from hormones, noise, food sensitivities, posture, or even the glare from a computer screen. However, recognize that burnout at work can cause a tension headache. If you are suffering from bad headaches on a regular basis, it could be because of chronic workplace stress due to your boss, coworkers, job tasks, or dealing with others in the workplace. For job satisfaction, you need to be a good fit for your job, have a trusted supervisor, and be accomplishing your goals. Lack of job satisfaction is a headache in and of itself.

Not Sleeping or Eating Well

Burnout can cause changes in your sleep patterns and how well you sleep. It can also cause some people to stop eating a healthy diet. If you are burned out, then you may be too exhausted to stand at the stove and cook a healthy meal. Is there a correlation between bringing home fast food and burnout? Probably!

These are the main symptoms of burnout, so if you are having an issue with one or several, you should take a close look to see if burnout is causing your issues. Talking with a therapist can also help. Our next post will help you with ways to recover from burnout.

How to Promote Recovery from Burnout

Barbara Rubel — Fri, 21 Oct 2022 16:18:52 +0000

Our previous post is on the symptoms and signs of burnout to help you recognize if you display some of those symptoms and what your risk for burnout might be. For individuals who have a high risk or are already dealing with severe burnout symptoms, here are some things you can start doing now to recover and achieve a better balance in your life.

How to Recover from Burnout

Create Boundaries

First, keep your boundaries. Don’t allow anyone to push them or violate them. Whether you work from home or in a work environment, you need boundaries in place to help with creating a healthy routine every day. There are techniques that can help with this such as setting an alarm when it is time to stop working or having a to-do list so that you can see your success as you mark things off. Chiefly, stop being as accessible during your off hours and feeling like you can’t say “No”.

Here are a few firm responses that mean “NO” and lessen burnout:

“It’s not okay when you ask me to do that for you.”
“Nope, I’m just not comfortable doing that.”
“By no means can I do that for you.”
“I can’t fit that into my schedule.”
“I just don’t have the time to do that.”
“I’m in the middle of several things and there’s just no way.”
“I don’t have any more room on my calendar.”

Show them that you care while saying no. Consider saying, “thanks, but I have a commitment on that day” or “I’m sorry, I can’t do that for you at this time.”

Address Your Mental Health

You must know the symptoms of burnout and recognize them in yourself before you can start a recovery plan. For a very long time there has been stigma in seeking out mental health help. Break the stigma. Contact a counselor or therapist. Having a trained professional to talk to who is impartial can help you get your life back on a good track. Spend time with family. Burnout is treatable, especially when you begin to cultivate more positive emotions.

Schedule Breaks Throughout the Day

Instead of working straight through the day at full throttle, schedule times to step away and relax for a few minutes. Go outside and look up at the sky. These moments of awe can make you realize that you are not alone. Quiet reflective moment can help diminish the overwhelming stress of work and allow you time to get a read on how you are doing and what is most important in your life.

Exercise Regularly

We always hear how important exercise is, but it really helps your body to eliminate built up or chronic stress and energy so that you are better able to relax and cope with challenges. Not only that, but there are also many known health benefits to sticking to an exercise regimen. No need to run the marathon. Just start by taking a walk or doing any physical activity that you enjoy.

Be Mindful

In the moment, pay attention to what is going on around you. Take a breath. Notice how you are feeling and what you are thinking. Be present instead of somewhere else in your thoughts. I am sure there are a lot of places to be in those thoughts… but instead, just stay present. Being mindful will help you cope with the stressors that are causing you to experience burnout. Deep breathing is also an important way to relax and can be done anywhere, with great effect.

Find Fun Things to Do

Find things you enjoy when you aren’t working, whether it’s a hobby, starting a new class, or volunteering. Focus on having fun. Keep your sense of humor as studies show that it increases your mental wellbeing, lowers levels of loneliness, and lessens those nasty headaches we just talked about. Whether you like stand-up comedy, slapstick, sarcastic humor, gallows humor, observational humor or self-defeating humor, just figure out what makes you laugh. It does not matter if you giggle, snort, chuckle, roar or have a good belly laugh, just enjoy the silliness.

How to Prevent Burnout Going Forward

It is possible to recover from burnout, even though you may feel completely overwhelmed. It takes some effort and planning to create healthy habits, a good daily routine, and maintain boundaries so that you can be successful both at work and in your personal life. Whether legal boundaries, relationship boundaries, emotional boundaries, or time boundaries, remember what Tony Gaskins says, “You teach people how to treat you by what you allow, what you stop, and what you reinforce.”

Being able to recognize when burnout might be creeping up on you will help you to take a step back, look at what is going on, and adjust accordingly. Stop and think. Create a flexible mindset as you focus on how much control you have over the situation and what is in your power to change. Be self-aware. Focus on strategies that you have found helpful in the past to maintain a positive attitude. With a positive mindset and improved quality of life you can alleviate some of the distress that burnout is causing, and reduce your risk of burnout in the future.

All things considered, having support systems in place whether a therapist, family member or friend, will help you get back to a place of balance. Learning to communicate and not internalize emotions is crucial. It really is all about being connected to those things in life that enrich your world and where you can make meaning. Instead of thinking that taking care of yourself is selfish, recognize that it will enable you to succeed and be fulfilled in the areas of your life that matter most. After the pandemic, you realize how fragile life is. Therefore, be mindful of what you can do right now. You are not alone. And if no one has told you yet today, you are amazing!

Characteristics of a Quiet Quitter

Barbara Rubel — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 20:27:15 +0000

Post-pandemic work environment

My focus when creating the Palette of Grief® was the physical, emotional, behavioral, spiritual, and cognitive responses from a devastating loss. The Palette of Grief® can metaphorically be applied to the current work environment because of the reactions from many employees to the losses they’ve experienced post-pandemic. They are grieving how their job has changed since before the pandemic started, and losing friends and other co-workers who retired or moved on to something else.

All these changes make them feel disconnected in their job, not knowing what lies ahead and having no clear expectations. Employees are not emotionally or physically invested in their jobs, nor are they engaged cognitively, behaviorally, or spiritually. We are cognizant that a large number of employees have grown personally or post-traumatically as a result of their experience with pandemic workplace loss.

How to recognize a Quiet Quitter

If businesses don’t help their employees recognize opportunities for growth post-pandemic, the risk of quiet quitters slowly taking over is very real. When workers no longer feel connected to the purpose of their company or to their fellow employees, they may stop being engaged at work and experience ‘Quiet Quitting’. They may be doing their job but they are also looking for another job at the same time. Some become a Loud Quitter, complaining vocally at work about being dissatisfied with their job. We hear you!

Recent Gallup polling of over 15,000 employees (Harter, 2022) shows that Quiet Quitters no longer do more than expected. They only do the minimum they can get by with and no more than their job description requires. Ask yourself if that sounds like you? Are you no longer going the extra mile to meet the needs of your clients or patients, or communicate and engage with coworkers? This is not just job burnout. This is about coping with loss and grief and navigating a workplace environment in a post-pandemic world.

What employers can do

All workers deserve to have their supervisors communicate with them, have their strengths recognized, their losses appreciated, their future objectives and aspirations known, and the stressors related to functioning in a post-pandemic environment understood. Most workers will give their best effort when they have a boss who is concerned about their well-being. My hope and desire is that supervisors and anyone responsible for workers under them will show appreciation to their employees so that no one will be quietly quitting their job.

As a keynote speaker, I am concentrating on reducing burnout by emphasizing that we are all leaders in some capacity, and we need the knowledge to confidently survive in a post-pandemic workplace. Are you or do you know someone that is a quiet quitter?

Nurse Burnout: Risks, Causes, and Precautions

Barbara Rubel — Fri, 11 Feb 2022 19:45:18 +0000

What Is Nurse Burnout?

Nurse burnout is a common occurrence marked by a loss of energy, which displays as emotional tiredness, a lack of enthusiasm, and emotions of dissatisfaction, as well as a decrease in work efficacy.

Causes of Burnout in Nursing

Burnout is a psychological condition that affects many nurses, especially during the COVID pandemic. It’s defined by a loss of physical, emotional, and psychological energy as a result of work-related stress, which leads to cynicism toward patients and coworkers.

Work overload, a lack of control due to COVID-19 related mandates and policies, resources, and control, conflicts of values, and a lack of a feeling of community can all contribute to and are signs of burnout.

Burnout among nurses is an expensive problem for both employers and employees because symptoms of burnout, such as decreased psychological and physical energy, sleeplessness, headaches, exhaustion, and depression lead to higher absenteeism and a high turnover rate, which have a detrimental impact on a patient’s quality of care.

Long Working Hours

Another cause of burnout is the increasing shortage of nurses as the generation of Baby Boomers get older and chronic disease becomes more prevalent. Registered nurse employment numbers are expected to go up about 12% between now and 2028, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

If you’re looking for a nursing job, this is good news. However, the rapid growth of nursing has resulted in growing pains including hospitals that are understaffed, nurses that are overworked, and higher levels of burnout.

Sleep Deprivation

Chronic lack of sleep is one of the leading causes of burnout among professionals in any business. This is especially frequent among nurses who work excessive hours and extra shifts. According to a poll performed by Kronos Inc., 25% of nurses said they couldn’t get enough sleep in between shifts. Job satisfaction will suffer if sleep is deprived.

High-Stress Working Conditions

Each nursing specialization has its own difficulties, especially during a pandemic, but some of them are inherently more taxing than others. Nurses that work in an emergency department or intensive care unit may encounter patients that are combative, catastrophic injuries, ethical difficulties, and a high death rate, all of which can elevate stress levels and are predictors of burnout in nurses. “Psychooncology” published a study showing that 30% of oncology nurses said they were emotionally exhausted, and 35% indicated feeling a decrease in their personal performance, both indications of job burnout. When empathetic and compassionate nurses are so tired that they can’t see straight, their exhaustion will impact patient care and impact team cohesion.

Not Enough Support

Burnout may be more widespread in your place of employment if there isn’t a culture of cooperation and teamwork there. Shared values and a cultural fit are key to mitigating the impact of burnout.

Collaboration is crucial in many professions, but it can save lives in nursing. Poor teamwork, which is marked by poor communication, conflict, no cooperation, and even bullying amongst peers, creates an undesirable work atmosphere and can even result in medical mistakes or death.

Emotional Strain of Caring for Patients

One of the most fulfilling aspects of nursing is patient care, since you form bonds with a patient and experience the joy of seeing them improve. However, if you work with patients in critical condition or provide end-of-life care, the emotional ups and downs that come with dealing with poorer recovery and greater fatality rates can result in compassion fatigue and a higher rate of burnout. Nurses may also experience grief in the workplace, which can become disenfranchised when they are not being supported or recognized as bereaved.

Another consideration is the number of patients a nurse is responsible for. Nurses that are caring for more than four patients are more likely to have experienced burnout, with the risk going up 23% for every additional patient.

Burnout predictors

There is a substantial link between a heavy workload and burnout rates, with evidence that a heavy workload is linked to emotional exhaustion. Nurses are less vulnerable to burnout when they feel that they have control and influence over their job and are rewarded for their efforts. The reward does not necessarily have to be monetary. For example, it can be flexible hours or childcare.

The results are mixed regarding the effects of working nights and the number of hours worked per week on burnout in nursing. Working very long shifts of at least 12 hours has can lead to emotional and physical exhaustion. However, nurses who are comfortable with the flexibility of their schedule and have a positive work environment are not as likely to feel emotional exhaustion and have a higher rate of job satisfaction.

Burnout’s Consequences

Burnout was found to be a substantial predictor of nurses’ intentions to leave their positions, however, this does not always result in real staff turnover. Patient safety and risk factors including as medication errors, falls, and infections, have all been linked to burnout. Complaints by families increase and patient satisfaction is impacted when nurses and staff experience burnout. Furthermore, issues with job satisfaction result.

Self-Care is important

Here are four easy strategies for nurses to exercise self-care on a regular basis:

Exercising regularly: improves quality of life and increases the stamina necessary for working in many healthcare settings. It will also aid in stress management and the prevention of diabetes and high blood pressure.
Practicing meditation and mindfulness: both provide benefits and helps nurses cope with burnout, anxiety, ongoing stress, and anxiety, and provides a general sense of well-being.
Pack food to take to work: this is particularly useful for people who work 12-hour shifts or don’t have options for nutritious and filling food at work.
Wear compression socks: painful veins or vascular problems are pretty common among nurses from being on their feet all day. Some eventually even require vascular surgery to correct the problem, which can contribute to burnout.

Being Trauma Informed Builds Organizational Resilience

Barbara Rubel — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 19:18:50 +0000

Regardless of your field or your level of expertise, you will most probably meet someone in the workplace who is grieving or traumatized. You may know someone who has experienced vicarious trauma, traumatic events, or who is experiencing professional grief. For that matter, you may have been impacted by grief or trauma while doing your job.

If you are a leader, you may be seeking resources and strategies for organizational resilience to increase productivity and retention in your workplace. You realize that during the pandemic, volunteers and staff are experiencing burnout, compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, vicarious trauma, and professional grief. As you learn about being trauma informed, it is essential that for organizational resilience to take place, you are also vicarious trauma informed and grief informed.

Build Organizational Resilience by Being Trauma Informed, Vicarious Trauma Informed, and Grief Informed

Trauma Informed Organization

The first pillar of organizational health and resilience is trauma informed care, a framework that supports an understanding of the impact of trauma on the survivor and how to provide support while avoiding re-traumatization. To mitigate the impact of trauma, strategies that are well supported and found to be effective can include:

Service provider training in psychological trauma, signs, and symptoms, and safety
Trauma specific practices: screening, assessment, and therapeutic interventions
Staff training on the stress response, strengthening personal resilience, and cultural and gender sensitivity

A trauma-informed approach requires an understanding that those who are exposed to trauma material and traumatic experiences can experience vicarious trauma.

Vicarious Trauma Informed Organization

The second pillar of organizational resilience is vicarious trauma informed care, a framework that supports an understanding of the impact of being exposed to trauma material. Vicarious trauma-informed care is an approach to the delivery of mental health care to professionals or volunteers to manage trauma exposure. Direct or indirect exposure to traumatic material, vicarious traumatic stress, and perceived lack of organizational support affect staff’s well-being (Ham, et. al., 2021). Moreover, vicarious traumatization has a long lasting impact on the employee or volunteer’s world view due.

Therefore, leaders need to create an organizational culture of understanding of the impact of vicarious trauma, provide peer support networks to employees, and demonstrate ways to show employees that they are valued. This can be accomplished by respectful communication with a focus on the importance of staff health, strengthening employee protective factors, wellness, and wellbeing.

A vicarious trauma-informed organization recognizes mindfulness interventions (generic wellness) that include training on self-care, healthy diet, meditation, yoga, and body movement. Recommendations can be made about recreational programs, those activities that can be done after work, indoors or outdoors, alone or with others (e.g., music, art, sports). Suggestions can include alternative medicine (integrative/complimentary) therapy: acupuncture, homeopathy, naturopathy, and traditional Chinese medicine (e.g., acupuncture).

Four Vicarious trauma informed interventions that show promising findings are:

Trauma-specific supervision: Supervisors review signs, symptoms, and risks for STS and VT, assists in emotional re-regulation related to indirect trauma exposure, identifies cognitive distortions and changes in world view, builds resilience, and monitors progress.
Vicarious trauma policies: Write supportive policies into employee handbooks that enhance high performance work practices and a shared vision to create a better working environment for those who are vicariously traumatized
Helpful resources for vicarious trauma organizations: Reduce treatment barriers, human resources, EAPs, mental health professionals, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and online support.
Psychoeducation: General wellness psychoeducation can include professional stress management seminars and work-life balance initiatives. Occupational skill development psychoeducation can include professional skills trainings on violence, trauma, abuse, neglect, and grief.

Grief Informed Organization

The third pillar of organizational resilience is grief informed care, a framework that supports an understanding of the art of coping with grief. Palette of Grief® is defined as emotional, physical, cognitive, behavioral, and spiritual reactions due to a traumatic loss. Through the art of understanding of ambiguous loss, disenfranchised grief, Prolonged Grief Disorder, and mourning, we learn ways to manage loss. Strategies to mitigate the impact of personal or professional grief, and that are well supported and found to be effective include understanding:

Palette of Grief® symptoms
Prolonged Grief Disorder
Disenfranchised grief after a suicide, homicide, drug misuse death, COVID
Ambiguous Loss
Complicated grief in the workplace
Strategies recommended by contemporary mourning theories

If trauma is a major global health problem, so is vicarious trauma and grief. Therefore, it is important to invest in vicarious trauma informed and grief informed training and research, and to develop an effective strategy of personal or professional grief management. With adequate training to manage vicarious trauma and grief in the workplace, organizations can promote and create sustainable wellness at work.

FABULOUS Resilience as a Key Competency to Lessen Burnout

Barbara Rubel — Wed, 07 Jul 2021 14:21:54 +0000

Quitting Bad Habits Using Your Strengths

A Magical Way to Get Over Burnout at Work

Barbara Rubel — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 19:36:23 +0000

Consider the power of magic to manage burnout. You can create the magic that helps you mitigate the impact of burnout at work. You may have a high workload. Your workplace may not share your values. You may have low control over your job. Yet, there is a magic formula to follow, so you can manage the daily stressors that are causing burnout.

Tips to Manage Burnout at Work

Magic is a supernatural power. You will need certain beliefs, rituals, or actions for the magic to work. Here are 10 magical tips to manage burnout at work:

Establish a few healthy lifestyle changes.
Play more and develop a sense of humor. Ever wonder how they make balloon animals?
Live life to the fullest in spite of workplace stressors.
Identify your strengths, that when put into practice, mitigate ongoing stressors.
Recognize why you are satisfied with your job and why your role makes a difference.
Discover the magic of awareness that helps you to be a realistic optimist.
Connect deeply with family and friends to help you overcome workplace challenges.
Have a greater perspective by not being upset by the small stuff.
Find the magic in personal growth and changed priorities because of your situation.
Focus on being self-compassionate when you make a mistake or things go wrong.

To unlock the magic for yourself, realize the chronic workplace stressors that are causing burnout. Some of these stressors are staff conflicts, a poor workplace social climate, being non-engaged, not a good fit for the job, working long hours, high pressures, and having no control.

You may be attempting to balance the needs of many different people. No tricks or sleight of hand are helping because your organization does not have family friendly policies or resources to do your job well. Moreover, there may be no mentoring programs.

You can attract magic into your life by making sure that you are in the appropriate workplace and that your organizational culture aligns with your experience. Conjure ways to keep your boundaries with coworkers and realize that it is okay to say, “no.” If you do not have a trusted leader, surround yourself with coworkers who you do trust.

If your supervisor does not show appreciation, speak with your coworkers about setting up a system amongst yourselves to show gratitude.

Low rewards is a predictor of burnout, so reward yourself! Being that there is link between burnout and turnover, speak with your supervisor before making the decision to leave. Being that burnout is an occupational phenomenon, focus on the charm you have to deal with it.

Abracadabra . . . you can now get over burnout at work. Okay, so it is not that easy. However, now you have an idea of what causes burnout and how to manage it.

Are You Burnt Out Because of Rigid Thinking?

Barbara Rubel — Sun, 23 May 2021 16:43:57 +0000

A Gap Analysis

A gap analysis is a well-defined learning strategy that can help you manage being burnt out. A gap analysis is a simple tool for establishing any gaps between your strengths in managing being burnt out and your organization’s ability to assist you in putting those strengths into practice. Let’s explore the issue of rigid thinking and being burnt out.

Current State

Focus on your current state of being burnt out. Look at what is currently happening at work (e.g., policies, practices, resources, strengths not put into practice). Chronic workplace stressors may be causing you to feel emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and disengaged. Your current state may be due to your rigid thinking, which makes you cynical.

Desired State

Once you have a good handle on your current state, explore the desired state. Identify what should be happening at work. There may be a gap between your current state of being burnt out due to inflexibility and rigid thinking and your desired state, becoming open minded.

Gap and Remedial Action

The gap between your current state and desired state may be a lack of knowledge about ways to change your rigid mindset. Find the information you need to manage being burnt out. Information gathering helps you to focus on what is causing the gap. Pinpoint remedial actions that help you to be a flexible thinker. With this in mind, consider being more alert to a critical thought and reframe it to a positive one. You may want to focus on recognizing knee jerk reactions and how to avoid certain behaviors or consider brainstorming positive behaviors to deal with each problem individually. You can also identify three strengths and how to put them into practice to achieve the desired state of being open minded. Here are three examples of remedial actions using strengths and best practices for mitigating being burnt out:

1. Critical thinker – “I notice a negative thought about my job and try to reframe it into a positive one.”

2. Careful – “I recognize a bias I am feeling toward someone that’s creating a negative attitude.”

3. Determined, “I know how to say no when I have to.”

Furthermore, if you are a supervisor, a gap analysis becomes a tool to help you manage employees who are burnt out. Speak directly to your team to help them recognize that their goal and the organizational goal are connected. Have a communication plan to ensure that their strengths are being utilized in the workplace. Develop team strategies to share how strengths are put into practice to build resilience. Here is an example of a supervisor’s strategy after completing a gap analysis: “As a supervisor, I am skillful, and know how to communicate with my team about shared goals and values. I give employees a place online to share suggestions and learn from one another about wellbeing and work-life balance. I ensure they receive mentoring, training, and feedback, and invest in helping my team learn about ways to put their strengths into practice to lessen burnout.”

As a final point, a gap analysis is a fancy phrase that is less complicated than it seems. Employees and supervisors focus on shared values and goals as they plan a strategy. Together, they identify the gap between the current and future state and create a plan of action to manage burnout in the workplace.

Burnout vs Compassion Fatigue

Barbara Rubel — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 20:02:20 +0000

As we explore the question of what is compassion fatigue, we recognize that it is not the same as burnout. Compassion fatigue and burnout are two types of stresses that bring about mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion. Signs of compassion fatigue are headaches, sadness, grief, avoiding working with certain people, nightmares, and changes in belief systems. They may also experience emotional disconnection from others.

Symptoms can mirror post-traumatic stress disorder, along with psychological distress, muscle tension, and cognitive shifts. Although some signs overlap, for the most part, signs of burnout are anger, frustration, cynicism, negativity, and withdrawal.

Differences between compassion fatigue and burnout

There are four major differences between compassion fatigue and burnout.

Compassion fatigue is caused by the exposure of traumatic material. Burnout is caused by work-related attributes such as the job, coworkers, one’s supervisor and poor work culture.
Compassion fatigue has a rapid onset and can be felt after the first experience of absorbing one’s traumatic material. Burnout emerges gradually over time as the work-related attributes such as too much paperwork, lack of resources, and long shifts, pile up.
Compassion fatigue is a term that describes the impact of helping others. Burnout is a term that describes the impact of a stressful workplace.
Compassion fatigue has a quicker recovery time than burnout, if managed early. Burnout has a longer recovery time.

Burnout Case Study

In order to assess and intervene with issues of burnout, the following case study can be incorporated into one’s learning.

Everly, a 34-year-old, was once enthusiastic about their career and was engaged in the workplace. They considered themselves a good fit for their job. Everly goes to the gym every morning and takes care of their health. They are goal driven and look forward to moving up the ladder in their company. Being single, Everly feels as though she has the time to work long hours and often takes work home. Everly hardly ever says no to coworkers or their supervisor. Everly does not drink alcohol or partake in drug use.

Everly is facing several challenges. Everly’s career is not moving forward, as there is no room for advancement. Everly does not feel as though her supervisor has clear expectations. Being micromanaged, they have limiting control over their own work. Everly has been asked to perform tasks that do not match their job description, which adds to their frustration. Everly explains that they do not delegate, even though they have a lot of work to do, nor do they take breaks. Their hopes for achieving their goals deteriorate. One of the problems being faced is stagnation. Although Everly has several friends, they bottle up their feelings. They recognize the need for a survival strategy to continue to do their work.

You know that Everly has become frustrated that they cannot make decisions about their schedule. They have lost control, feel bored, apathetic, and indifferent about their role. They have stopped feeling engaged and are no longer connected to their workplace. Everly’s work culture is not in sync with their values. Overall, Everly lacks the morale to do their job and is burned out.

Questions
1. In regard to what has been described, what are your feelings about Everly?
2. What do you know about Everly so far?
3. What are you worried about as you provide support to Everly?
4. What are the identified issues in this case study?
5. Considering the context of Everly’s life, what specific factors might place Everly at risk for burnout?
6. What questions might you ask Everly to fully assess the extent of her burnout?
7. What self-care strategies would you recommend to manage burnout?
8. What might be a reasonable goal?

Organizations need to understand both job burnout and compassion fatigue and be mindful of their employee wellbeing. Otherwise, job turnover will impact their bottom line.

Mindsets of Mentally Tough Helping Professionals

Barbara Rubel — Wed, 20 May 2020 19:15:31 +0000

Recently a friend told me that she was burning out at work because she was crazy busy. My advice to her: create a mentally tough mindset. Helping professionals often show mental toughness while providing support in a difficult situation. Their formula for success: be cognitively flexible; have a positive attitude; maintain boundaries; be connected with others; maintain a sense of humor; be optimistic; understand job satisfaction; and be self-compassionate. What you can learn from mentally tough helping professionals is to recognize the signs of burnout, the contributors to burnout, and how to get mentally tough to deal with it.

For the most part, if people feel detached from their job, lack motivation or enthusiasm or get angry over the smallest things at work, and are mentally exhausted by the end of the day, they are burning out. Managing relationships with coworkers and staff conflicts can contribute to burnout.

Supervisors or managers also contribute to burnout by not: being accessible or transparent; creating a sense of teamwork; offering positive feedback; recognizing an employee’s strengths; and having reasonable expectations. Supervisors can be critical, show favoritism and may not offer supervision. Moreover, no one wants a boss who talks more than he or she listens.

Employees need adequate training for their position and to be offered learning opportunities on the job. Burnout can occur when employees are not offered new employee, low performing, or high performing mentoring programs. Rapid workplace changes, downsizing, time pressures, and job security are problems. People don’t have a balanced workload when they are asked to take on many new tasks while still doing the old ones. What’s more, they are not paid enough for all the work that they do. In spite of all these factors that contribute to burnout, a variety of solutions to this dilemma are found in a mentally tough mindset.

Mentally tough helping professionals have cognitively flexible mindsets. They are able to rethink the way they think when they have no input in decision-making. They have control over their attitude and try to remain positive in spite of the fact that they often do not have the resources to do their job well. Generally, they are in control of their actions and emotions while in the workplace. In spite of many interruptions throughout the day, they maintain their boundaries. They achieve job satisfaction by finding meaning in their role and believing in their agency or organization’s mission. They know how to keep their sense of humor while remaining optimistic.

Besides, they often connect with friends, family members or their faith community and seek out co-workers and supervisors who share similar workplace values. They are self- compassionate. If they are not appreciated for what they do, they are kind to themselves and focus on their character strengths rather than their weaknesses. The key point is that a mentally tough mindset goes hand in hand with a spiritually tough mindset. Is it time for you to work on both?