Any burnt out nurses?

[Laaaaa]

Does anyone else feel totally burnt out. I have no idea how I am going to continue. Being so busy and short staffed for months on end has just had a massive impact on me.

I feel low, not sleeping, snappy, anxious and second guessing all descions. I have phones in sick but know my ward will just be struggling and will have to pick up the slack.

Also my manager doesn't seem to have covered my shifts despite me telling her so the ward is ringing asking where I am.

I love my job but just feel so scared of everything at the minute. ❤️

You poor thing, I can totally relate to your description. You need some time out to rest and look after your self and rebuild your resilience. Goos that you have recognised this and arranged time off. It's been an awful year for all Hcps.

I'm burnt out too. FT Community nurse. I've been on antidepressants now 3ms and been using staff wellbeing councillors.. Both of these things are helping a bit. But I recently got signed off for 2 weeks from. My GP and the rest and time away to recharge and recover from the year has been invaluable.

Please look after yourself somehow. Talk to trusted colleagues, friends or family and get some support. We have to look after ourselves and each other before we can give any more to patients and colleagues.

It's OK to say you are not OK.... Its taken me year and years to be able to do this, but it helps. X

I was like this a couple of years ago. After one particularly horrific nightshift I just handed my notice in and changed careers.
I have thought about going back but not sure whether it's the right decision at the moment.
I don't think anyone can understand how horrific it can be unless they have been there themselves. I honestly feel like I have some kind of post traumatic stress which i will never get over.

I could have written this post. I woke up last week and just couldn't get out of bed. Phoned the GP and as soon as I said I was a nurse she said I was burnt out, and has signed me off for an initial 2 weeks. I feel bad for leaving my colleagues even shorter staffed than it is already, but I need to put myself first. Have as much time off as you need, get yourself right before going back to work.

You have to look after yourself and your PIN your mistakes (burnout) could have severe consequences. Your own mental health and well-being is more important ... and trust me your absence (that can be covered) is in no way comparable to your predictable error ... do everyone including yourself a favour and take a break to recharge

Yes 😭can i join please?

I am so very exhausted and wish I could leave but I can't because of our finances.

Iv done 22 years , i just want to potter at home now. Im so so so tired .

I'm a physio working in the community & I feel similar. We are historically under funded for the service we run, have had a massive backlog build up over the past year which will take months/years to address and my trust have landed the long covid rehab service on me which is totally unmanageable in the time I'm allocated. I feel overwhelmed, stressed and can't imagine doing this for another 10 years (my retirement date on the 2015 scheme

Yes. This past year has made me seriously consider my career choices. I have dealt with things I never imagined I would (mental health nurse) and I feel like we haven't had chance to process things due to the extra work loads and short staffing. I keep thinking about retraining and going into a non patient roll but then I try and remind myself, pre covid I loved my job.

Yes. I have taken two weeks out.
I’m not answering the phone or checking emails.
I’m protecting myself so that when I go back I am ready to start again. I know that it’s going to be hard going back and I will need to pick up the pieces but I needed to press the pause button.

I hope you are okay op.

Wow! Thank you everyone. I checked last night and no one had responded. So reassuring to know people are in similar circumstances.

I can't believe I have been contacted so much when off. I also feel awful as agency will have to cover my shifts over the weekend which is obviously a fortune.

I've been off a week, last week I didn't get out of bed, this week I am pottering a bit more but I don't want to go back but I can't just stay off. I know someone had to do a day shift then my night as agency couldn't cover as they text me to cover (wtf I'm off)

Just feels a massive mess

I would love a new career but what? We need the money I get. Feeling trapped makes it worse.

That imposter syndrome is massive, I feel I'm going to get sacked any minute and also don't want to go back

I work as a bank nurse so cover loads of areas and I'm so done in that I have a ball of anxiety in my stomach days before I'm due to start work.

I came into nursing to look after people and provide care and with the levels of paperwork, constant audits, dramas between staff and senior staff and I feel awful.

I used to think I'd nurse until I'd retire but I don't want to do this anymore. I certainly never want to have a permanent contract ever again.

Transfer to paediatrics. It's much easier than adults! The workload is much smaller. Children are amazing!

@Toddlerteaplease I'm mental health and have done CAMHS and it's not like that! I really struggled with it!

@sugarhockeyicedtea that's a shame, I was thinking bank would be easier as I would have to go in and money would be motivated

Ah, I presumed you were adult.

Bless you OP. I have had burnout in the past and it’s horrible. I was really physically and mentally ill. Your manager is failing you if you are receiving phone calls at home, that needs addressing. You need to be marked down as sick and not contactable. I have had three short episodes of stress/burnout/ anxiety in my 20 years of nursing actually and I am loving work at the minute. You can come back from this if you want to. I know what you mean about imposter syndrome, but another way to look at it is this. You and the organisation has spent time and money to train you to be the fab nurse I’m sure you are. That’s money and time well spent when you think of the value you bringing the difference you make to your patients. They need to support you to get you over this blip as no one can fill from an empty cup. If they do that properly they have much more chance of getting you back on top form. Our trust is offering loads of mental health support at the minute. Can you access something? Occupational health can signpost you if there are telephone counselling services forhealthcare staff. Good luck.

@Laaaaa if I'm honest I do prefer bank work as it's easier for childcare and prior to the pandemic, it was brilliant.

I could go in, do what I love and care for people and leave without having to leave without any drama. I had been wards that I didn't enjoy so I'd finish my shift and just not book to go back there. The ability to be independent with my nursing was brilliant.

During this past year though? It's been tough. Everyone is stressed about beyond belief and many see me as a new face that they can vent to about the ward and the staff. There's been next to no support for the bank nurses during this. On asking about vaccines and things like revaluations or LFTs, I've been ignored and then met with general disdain.

After all, a lot of the staff assume I'm a bank nurse because I can't get a full time contract and am a bit 'thick'. That's not true, I have over a decade of specialist and multiward/ nursing experience, I left for childcare reasons when I realised that my kids were growing up and I was missing it. I also have a chronic pain condition, again something I don't talk about it and I don't let it affect my nursing.

Sorry for the vent- it's been a year!

I,m leaving nursing in July after 36 years (30 on ICU). thats when my mortgage finishes. I did want to retire and return on fewer shifts for a few more years but they will only pay me a lower band despite my experience and tbh I,m done with it. I will have to tighten my belt but I,ll manage

I do hope I can get over this and back to loving it. It seems such a fine line between being ok and not.

This sounds awful but I think with me being off this week my manager has seen the reality of what it's like and how tough it is. She has text me to say she is stressed. I am in bed under my covers -I don't care!

I am going to go back on Monday but already panicking about the workload and staffing levels

I have done 36 years and check my count down to retirement app daily, I can go next year with my full pension but sometimes think I won't get there. Sickness is a vicious circle and once people start to go off then those that remain soon fall as well. I manage a team and we are carrying huge sickness levels, my logical and compassionate brain knows people can't help being ill but sometimes I get fed up with staff looking to me to find a solution where there is none. No one wants to cover the bank shifts, everyone is exhausted. I have to follow ridiculous sickness management policies and make referrals to occupational health knowing they don't have the answer. Part of the role is ringing people up when they are off, you can't leave them alone and following templates for letters which are very formal. I don't know how long I can carry on with trying to cover a service where almost half are off. The managers above me are aware but are happy as long as we have some cover.

I think people don't understand the stress of short staffing. its not just being a bit busier than normal its the emotional stress of not being able to do your job properly. Its knowing that patients are over due cares and your just fire fighting and not providing the care you trained to do
Its distresses me.
The first things to be missed are all the comfort measures. the making sure someone is positioned correctly. the eye and mouth care, assistance with toileting or eating or washing because the antibiotics and drug rounds cant be omitted .
taking time to listen to someone's worries or to answer questions and allay fears. all that goes out the window and you are just rushing from one priority to the next, not to mention the damn computer system where everything you do has to be noted. I feel like I,m nursing a PC these days and not a person. Usually the servers are rubbish too and everything takes 5 times longer than it used to.
I will miss my patients and the job, but not the every increasing bureaucracy and chronic staffing issues

How old are you OP?
I'm hospital patient facing role and tghe last 6 months or so have been dreadful - racing heart, second checking everything I do, huge lack of confidence, overwhelmed by audit/IT systems changes, going over all my prescribing desicions at 2am. Even annual leave requests and managing staff's sickness etc. can send me into a tailspin. And the inhouse politics and bitchiness is shocking. I clicked that it could all be linked to menopause - I'm 48 and not had a period for 9 months. So I'm taking supplements (not HRT) and trying to avoid alcohol and caffeine and things are getting slightly better.

I'd still love to quit but there's my pension to think about. I also would struggle to get a similar banded post as I too feel like I have imposter syndrome. Leaving the NHS altogether would be the dream. But what would we do instead? I'd love to just go and work in a boutique with pretty things but doubt it would pay my bills

I'm a grade 8 matron sconded to ITU since last April and to say we've been under pressure is putting it mildly so I do understand how overwhelming it can get but you can't just call in sick because you feel like it, your colleagues and the patients are relying on you. If you do have a problem them you need to speak to Occupational Health. Our Trust runs an Employee Wellbeing Service. They should be able to help you. I'm sorry if I sound harsh but it's virtually impossible to arrange cover at short notice and everybody else suffers. I should know, I worked 60 hours in 5 days !. Thankfully admissions are dropping off significantly so hopefully this is the beginning of the end. I hope so beacuse I have respirator acne and the skin on my face is so sore. We won't need PTSD councelling, just a f*cking dermatologist. At least I don't have to go on a diet. I've lost 2 stone. But its what I signed up for.

She hasn't just called in sick because she felt like it - did you read her post?

@JMAngel1

How old are you OP? I'm hospital patient facing role and tghe last 6 months or so have been dreadful - racing heart, second checking everything I do, huge lack of confidence, overwhelmed by audit/IT systems changes, going over all my prescribing desicions at 2am. Even annual leave requests and managing staff's sickness etc. can send me into a tailspin. And the inhouse politics and bitchiness is shocking. I clicked that it could all be linked to menopause - I'm 48 and not had a period for 9 months. So I'm taking supplements (not HRT) and trying to avoid alcohol and caffeine and things are getting slightly better.

I'd still love to quit but there's my pension to think about. I also would struggle to get a similar banded post as I too feel like I have imposter syndrome. Leaving the NHS altogether would be the dream. But what would we do instead? I'd love to just go and work in a boutique with pretty things but doubt it would pay my bills

I started to not care about my NHS pension when I realized the job was likely to kill me before I got to retirement age ! I now do a job on a lot less pay with a not so great pension but a lot less stress.

@Babyroobs
Fair point. What career did you switch to - asking for a friend