Causes
Nurse burnout is mostly caused by heavy workloads, long hours, and the emotional demands of patient care. Staff shortages leave nurses working overtime and caring for too many patients with little time to recover. This nonstop pressure leads to exhaustion and burnout.
How COVID-19 Pushed Nurse Burnout to New Levels
Many problems nurses already had got worse during COVID-19, leading many to quit, retire early, or switch to travel jobs. Before COVID, about one-third felt burned out and turnover was 17%. After COVID, burnout jumped to around 50% and turnover to 20–30%. This shows how much the pandemic increased stress, especially with long shifts and uncomfortable PPE.
Undertsaffing
Understaffing means you have less help in the unit you’re in, leaving your patients with less focused care.
Large Assignments
Large assignments mean nurses have to give meds, assess, clean, and support each patient, plus keep up with charting, which becomes a lot.
Toxic Work Environments
Healthcare teams should support each other. Everyone is still learning, and all staff nurses, managers, and doctors should treat each other with compassion.