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Travel nurses do more than simply treat illnesses and injuries. These caregivers console, inform and speak for their patients and their families. But that’s not all. They are taking long shifts away from home and their loved ones, feeling lonely and homesick. And that results in what we call compassion fatigue, otherwise known as nurse burnout.
This blog focuses on compassion fatigue and how nurses can care for themselves as much as they care for others.
What is compassion fatigue?
Nurse burnout, often known as “compassion fatigue,” is a breakdown in an RN’s physical, mental, and emotional situation caused by being overburdened, overworked, and underpaid.
But, surely, not too many nurses feel this way. According to a recent survey, 63% of nurses have suffered burnout as a result of their employment.
How Can You Know You’re Suffering from Nurse Burnout?
A Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor gave us a specific recipe that spells out nurse burnout. Here are the three common indicators to know you are experiencing compassion fatigue:
Emotional fatigue
Loneliness
Displeasure in your successes
When you begin to feel emotionally and mentally tired, this is an indication that you are approaching compassion fatigue. Depersonalization can lead to or worsen work stress and heighten emotional tiredness to an entirely new level.
Compassion fatigue can stomp on your greatest moments and successes right in front of you. To prevent travel nurses like you from becoming a shell of themselves, we brought in the 5 most effective tips. Include these in your lifestyle, and notice the change in your behavior and moods.
Tips to cope with nurse burnout
1. Practice mindfulness
Mindfulness is when you’re meditating with a clear conscious of your surroundings. It can help you regulate and navigate through tough emotions that a travel nurse often has. A study showed that nurses who practiced mindfulness had increased self-awareness as well as the ability to compartmentalize their work emotions in logically.
It can help you not feel overburdened and process your emotions better.
2. Take breaks in your work.
Sure, the days of a travel nurse can be long, and you may feel as if there isn’t enough time in the day to do everything. But you should never skip your breaks.
Those devoted “you” moments are when you can decompress and hydrate, treat yourself to a snack, unwind from work problems, and maybe, if you’re lucky, get a moment alone to relax.
3. Focus on self-care
Self-care is the ultimate care; as a nurse, you must provide the same amount of care to yourself as you do to your patients. Find a pastime or activity that will divert your attention away from your work.
Try yoga, hiking, or swimming to naturally help release endorphins and increase your mood. When you’re tired, give yourself permission to sleep. As much as you can, treat yourself and have fun!
4. Talk to friends
Burnout requires a lot of support. Nurses need somebody, and there is nothing shameful about it! Call a loved one to speak with them and catch up. If you want a more unbiased opinion from someone who isn’t a part of your personal life, arrange a meeting with a counselor or therapist.
Conclusion
A travel nurse might be moving to new locations and having a constant change of environment, but that puts them at a greater risk of nurse burnout. In order to cope with it, we’ve listed 4 of the top strategies you can implement in your life. We hope that you take life one step at a time and care for yourself just as much as you care for your patients. hbhskyline.com Check out more articles just like this here.