Burnout

Certified nursing assistants are the go between the patient and all the other healthcare providers. The job involves a lot of personal involvement in the patient’s life, and at times, it can take quite a toll.  The job may sound glamorous, but it is far from picture perfect, at times one has to help dress wounds that can be quite a sight. Although it is an honorable job, there is no doubt that CNAs are put to the test at every turn.

Having had the pleasure of working in long-term care facilities as well as more hospital type facilities there have been time spent working on and forming new relationships with the patients met along the way. The residents in these facilities get accustomed to our faces and our interactions with them and at times turn to us for companionship and friendship, keep in mind professional boundaries. Most of the residents do not have anyone to turn to when they need someone to listen to them, and thus they figure since we participate in their most private matters like giving them a bath then we should be able to hold their innermost feelings.  They pour out their feelings one patient at a time, and since we are human we sometimes hold their worries and pain in our hearts, yet we are supposed to carry on like soldiers, and so we hold our heads high and continue with our duties. However, on a break or other time that we sit down to rest, the sigh as the recall of the related pain and all the feelings that are carried within.

Sometimes the patients’ pain becomes our pain, in the psychological and emotional sense. The question as to if we are advocating enough, as their bodies and feelings are hurt, we are impacted also. Thus, the CNAs life becomes entangled with the patients, especially in the long-term care facilities. This has become the leading cause of burnout among CNAs, the physical exertion as well as the emotional entanglements. The hospitals, however, are a different story altogether, they provide an environment where one interacts and cares for numerous patients. There is no day like the other; it is life in the fast lane. There is no time to form and cement strong relationships because you move through the various hospital departments.  Therefore, there is a less emotional connection with the patients because you find yourself working with different patients every day.

It is important to understand that a lot of the CNAs duties involve lifting of the patients and emotional burdens, which cause burnout. However, this can be turned around by either moving from the long-term care facilities and working in a hospital environment, or going back to college and enrolling for an associate degree, which would propel a CNA into another role within the facility. The choice to work in hospitals is not easy to some CNAs because the long-term care facilities provide job security compared to the hospitals, but it is important for one to understand that they can only make an impact in other people’s lives if they are physically and emotionally sound.

Taking advantage of the employee assistance programs, debriefing the day with co-workers durning change of shift report, going to the gym after work and other coping skills will help to prevent burnout.

Let us know your questions and what you do to prevent burnout. Also, let us know if there are any topics you would like to hear about in our blog, maybe we will include it in an upcoming post.