ABSTRACT

Background: Nurse burnout is defined as a response to prolonged exposure to high levels of job-related stress and is characterized by three dimensions: a lack of personal accomplishment, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization. According to research, 65% of nurses perceived their job as stressful and had higher chances of becoming easily burned-out. The reasons for burnout include lack of support, lack of communication skills, and ineffective coping methods with stress.

Objective: This evidence-based presentation acknowledges the issue of nurse burnout and provides interventions to reduce and prevent burnout for nurses on a cardiac progressive care unit (CPCU).

Methods: The CPCU nurses will take a six-question survey asking about nurse burnout and interventions. Interventions include education on burnout and methods to help. These methods are yoga, activities centered around mindfulness, meditation, taking breaks outside, journaling, a gratitude board on the nursing unit, a suggestion box for the staff, spirituality, and staff feedback during unit huddles.

Results: The expected outcome is the increased knowledge the CPCU’s nursing staff will have about nurse burnout and interventions to prevent or reduce burnout. By educating the nurses about the various interventions to relieve burnout, it will hopefully increase patient care.

Conclusion: As nurses' workload continues to grow, it negatively affects nurses' well-being and mental health. Increased workload, understaffed, poor communication between physicians and nurses, and lack of organizational leadership within nursing help nurses increase stress. Research has proven a correlation between nurse burnout and an increased number of healthcare-associated infections, patients fall, and medication errors. With the current pandemic, staffing ratios and workload have increased on the progressive cardiac floor for nurses. Hopefully, with the interventions presented, the CPCU floor nurses will find some relief and increase their resilience to find job satisfaction again.

Keywords: Nurse burnout prevention, nurse burnout interventions, preventing nurse burnout