To
reduce employee burn-out, management must value employees at all levels
and verbalize this attitude to the staff. the creation of programming
that fosters teamwork, promotes a sense of family, provides positive and
negative feedback, and communicates appreciation for employees' efforts.
feeling good about themselves and understanding that they're an important
member of a facility, employees can better handle the many demands and
stresses that come from a nursing home environment.
Unless
facility management provides an effective means for reducing their risk
for burn-out and enhancing their creativity, staff members may have trouble
giving to others day after day.
The pressure
on staff to accomplish the many demanding tasks in a nursing home and surprise
inspections as well as unhappy family members add extra pressures. Often
vacation days are reserved for time periods of least stress in the facility
and for most staff, the daily pressures mount quickly after returning from
vacation. The result of these job-related stresses is a condition known
to mental health clinicians as "Burn-Out." We use this term frequently
in conversation, but let's explore more fully its meaning. Burn-out is
simply the reactions of our body and of our mind to the stresses created
by our jobs. We all burn out--some of us are less prone to the symptoms
of burn-out than others, but we are all vulnerable to it. Some workers
burn out more quickly because they tend to set unrealistic goals for themselves
and then experience frustration and anger when these goals cannot be met.
Physiological Symptoms of Burn-Out
There
are numerous physical problems associated with Burn-Out. Before you assume
that you are suffering from the effects of Burn-Out, it is important to
undergo a complete physical examination from your doctor to rule out any
physiological bases for your difficulties. Loss of appetite, changes in
sleep patterns, early morning insomnia, recurrent headaches, frequent digestive
disturbances may be indicators of Burn-Out. Feeling tired throughout the
day after sleeping well at night and chronic back or neck pain may also
be symptoms of this problem. People who feel overwhelmed by the pressures
of work often develop physical symptoms which mirror their discomfort.
As the mind sends messages to the body saying "You want to run away but
you can't," a situation of conflict is created and the body reacts by gearing
up to fight the feelings of fear and anger which are being sensed.
Results of Caregiver Burn-Out
As
caregivers, we demonstrate a decreased level of involvement with our facility's
residents when we experience frequent episodes of Burn-Out. We spend as
little time as possible with those requiring care and attention from us
and we tend to become impersonal and uncaring. We may refer to the residents
as "the hip fracture in Room 110" or "the CVA on the Medicare Unit" rather
than learn the names and faces of the residents we care for. This, too,
indicates an effort to minimize involvement with the work situation. We
also lose our natural creativity and flexibility and tend to do our jobs
in a rigid, patterned way from which we hate to deviate. If a new staff
member presents us with a different way of doing a task relating to our
job and we are burned out, we resent this new idea and lose our wish to
experiment.