30219 Burnout in Healthcare: Why It Happens and What It Means

Course overview

Discusses burnout in healthcare, including why it occurs, why nurses may be more vulnerable to experiencing it, implications and consequences that it has on work performance, employee health and patient care, and how nurse leaders can manage and prevent burnout within healthcare organizations. Burnout is a significant problem within the nursing profession, and may be attributed to nurses working long shifts, dealing with difficult and emotional situations often, and working in high-stress environments. Burnout may lead to adverse health outcomes, greater nurse turnover, decreased quality of healthcare, and lower patient satisfaction. Because of the potential harmful effects that burnout may have on nurses and consequently patient care and safety, nurses must be able to recognize the risk factors and warning signs associated with nurse burnout, taking a proactive stance in regards to prevention of burnout. This program discusses burnout in healthcare settings, including why nurses are prone to burnout, how burnout can affect work performance, employee health, and patient care, and prevention and management of burnout.