WORK-RELATED STRESS AND BURNOUT

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WORK-RELATED STRESS AND BURNOUT
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Objectives

• Identify signs and symptoms of stress, reality
  shock, and burnout
• Describe the impact of stress, reality shock, and
  burnout on the individual and the health-care
  team
• Evaluate his or her own colleagues stress levels
• Develop strategies to manage personal and
  professional stresses

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Statistics

• More people have heart attacks on Monday morning
  as they prepare to go to work than on any other
  day of the week
• Two-thirds of all office visits to physicians are
  the result of stress
• Stress plays a role in the two major killers of
  adults heart disease and cancer

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Stress

• Effects of Stress
• Hans Selye first explored the concept of stress
  in the 1930s
• His description of the general adaptation
  syndrome (GAS) has influenced our present-day
  notions about stress and its effects on humans
• Stress is assessed on four levels
• Environmental
• Social
• Physiological
• Psychological

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Good Stress versus Bad Stress

• Seven factors identified
• Good stresses allow people to exert a high level
  of control over outcomes. Bad stresses allow
  little or no control
• Positive feelings are associated with good stress
  and negative or ambivalent feelings occur with
  bad stress
• Eagerness is associated with good stress

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Good Stress versus Bad Stress

• Exhaustion and avoidance are associated with bad
  stress
• Good stress associated with personal growth and
  improved interpersonal relationships. Bad stress
  is associated with limitations and bad
  relationships
• Processing all stress requires human action

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Reality Shock

• First few weeks are the honeymoon phase
• Honeymoon phase wont last forever
• Graduates often feel a conflict between
  professional and work goals

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Differences in Expectations

• To cope with reality, you must recognize
• Expectations are distortions of reality (this can
  bring about disappointment)
• To some extent, you need to fit yourself into
  your work, not fit the work to suit your needs or
  demands
• The way you perceive events on the job will
  influence how you feel about your work

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• Your mental attitude will affect whether work is
  a pleasant or unpleasant experience
• Feelings of helplessness and powerlessness cause
  frustration and unrelieved job stress

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• Additional Pressures on the New Graduate
• Acceptance by a new group?
• Competence?
• Ideals
• Loss of protection of clinical supervision
• Loss of sense of collegiality and trusted
  relationships
• Grounded feedback
• Set boundaries

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Ineffective Ways to Cope

• Abandon professional goals- will eliminate
  conflict but leaves you as a less effective
  caregiver
• Give up professional ideals- work for the
  paycheck
• Leave the profession

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Effective Ways to Cope

• Develop a professional identity
• Learn more about the organization
• Use your energy wisely
• Communicate effectively
• Seek feedback often and persistently
• Develop a support network
• Find a mentor

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Burnout

• The ultimate result of unmediated job stress
• Often attributed to frustration in the nurses
  ability to deliver ideal care

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Aspects (4 stages) of burnout

• High expectation and idealism
• Pessimism and early job dissatisfaction
• Withdrawal and isolation
• Irreversible detachment and loss of interest

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Stressors Leading to Burnout

• Personal factors- age, gender, children,
  education, experience, and favored coping style
• Job Related Conditions
• Human Service Occupations- caring for sick and
  dying persons
• Conflicting Demands- balancing work and family

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• Technology
• Lack of Balance in Life- inability of a person to
  set limits

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Consequences????

• Burnout can cause
• Financial implications
• Physical implications
• Emotional implications
• Social implications

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Buffer against burnout

• PERSONAL HARDINESS
• Sense of personal control
• Commitment to work and life activities
• Viewing demands and change as a challenge
• Adaptive coping mechanisms

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Stress Management

• Only you can manage your reaction to stress!
• ABCs of Stress Management
• Awareness- be honest with and to yourself
• Belief- believe in yourself
• Commitment- be committed to work on stress
  recognition and reduction

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Physical Health Management

• Take a deep breath!
• Stand up straight!
• Go to bed early (get at least 8 hours of sleep
  per night)
• Relax!!!
• Take a break!
• Eat properly
• Exercise

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Mental Health Management

• Take responsibility for your own thoughts and
  attitudes!!!
• Realistic expectations
• Reframe your thoughts
• Laugh
• Social support- make a friend!!

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CONCLUSION

• Ultimately- you are in control! You need to cut
  out the next frame, put it on your bathroom
  mirror, and read it to yourself before starting
  your day!!!

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I CHOOSE

• I choose to relish my days
• I choose to enjoy this moment
• I choose to be fully present to others
• I choose to fully engage in the activity at hand
• I choose to proceed at a measured, effective pace
• I choose to acknowledge all I have achieved so
  far
• I choose to focus on where I am and what I am
  doing
• I choose to acknowledge that this is the only
  moment in which I can take action.