Introduction

Burnout is defined, “Physical, mental, and emotional

exhaustion, according to National Nurses United. While stress
is characterized by over engagement, burnout is characterized
by disengagement. Burnout can lead to dulled emotions and
detachment. Burnout not only affects the wellbeing of nurses,
but also the care of patients” (Erickson, 2015).
Nursing burnout is defined by the emotional exhaustion,
depersonalization and disengagement due to the chronic stress
associated with the challenging situations nurses face.
Burnout is a global issue that affects our health care system
and the individuals, by decreasing patient satisfaction and can
lead to psychological and physical health problems in
healthcare workers. The key to combating nursing burnout
includes early interventions, becoming aware of the issue and
implementation of a positive work environment.

Problem Statement

How is nursing burnout a potential problem? Studies have

shown that one-third of all nurses in critical care units report a
high emotional exhaustion score (Dekeyrel, 2017). With the
current nursing shortage, losing one-third of nurses to
burnout, would be catastrophic to patient care as well as the
health care industry. When nurses are experiencing burnout,
there are more incidents of inadequate patient care, staff
shortages, tardiness and no-shows. These issues can lead to a
negative impact on the non-nursing staff as well as poor
patient engagement during healing and future treatment plans.

What are Effective Strategies

used to Prevent Nursing
Burnout?
Methodology
Using the Westminster College library database and the
extensive studies done through the databases through Cinahl,
PubMed, Medline and Embase. A review of the literature
between the years 2012 and 2017 was conducted and included
the search terms “nurse burnout”, “stress”, “intervention” and
coping strategies. The research was not limited to the adult
population as it also included pediatric nursing. 1,377
matches were found on the Westminster College library
database. Articles were sleeted because they propose a set of
best practice recommendations in order to help prevent and
address burnout among nursing.
Results:
The research shows that nursing burnout can be reduced
by the use of effective strategies such as becoming mindful,
the use of yoga and increasing physical activity and the
evidence that there are benefits in both job satisfaction and
quality of care given with keeping shifts less than 12 hours.
Summary:
Nursing burnout has seen negative effects on nurses and
their work environment, and patient outcomes. The articles
collected provide solid evidence on effective intervention that
can be used in professional areas by nurses to significantly
prevent and decrease nursing burnout. In conclusion, by
incorporating mindful interventions, yoga, physical activity
and having constant hours, can all contribute in decreasing
nursing burnout rates. This will overall lead to an increase in
quality of care and the nurse’s own self-care supported by the
articles used.
Mindfulness intervention:
Mental relaxation has been found to help reduce burnout
rates by placing mindful based intervention. They found that
these measures decreased the burnout rate among nurses.
Initially 93 nurses participant in the study with 45 nurses in
the intervention group and 48 nurses were included in the
comparison group for 6-week. The researchers found a
significant decrease on burnout rates in the intervention group
(p=0.002).
The results showed that the intervention group that used
the mindfulness-based program reduced and prevent burnout,
also promoted positive attitudes among the health care staff.
The article provided valid background and information that
applied to the research question (Duarte & Pinto-Gouveia,
2016)
Yoga:
The implementation of mind-body practices such as yoga
help nurses manage stress and build emotional resilience, as
well as improving self-care and mindfulness. After an 8-week
intervention period with the promotion of a gentle yoga
program the study found that; “Compared with controls, the
yoga participants reported significantly higher self care as
well as less emotional exhaustion and depersonalization upon
completion of an 8-week yoga intervention” (Alexander et al.,
2015, p. 466). The results from this study found that the yoga
sample group had significant improvements in scores from
pre- to post-interven
 tion for self-care (p>.001), mindfulness (p=.028),
emotional exhaustion (p=.008), and depersonalization
(p=.007) outcomes.
This research was promising and has a potential to benefit
many others, but might be difficult to replicate in a bigger
facility. This research was rigorous in the aspect of
committing applicants to 8 weeks of yoga, and was able to
help provide information regarding the topic question.
Physical activity:
For evaluating others emotional and physical state of
burnout this article does well. The research done in this study
was valid to help assess if exercise can help with preventing
burnout. How this article applies to preventing burnout, it
provides evidence that exercise can decrease rates of nursing
burnout.
In this article the researchers performed a 12 week
exercise program and assessed the nurses before and after and
all results showed and supported significantly less feelings of
burnout after the program. “While there were no significant
changes in feelings of personal accomplishment, levels of
depression and perceived stress were also significantly
reduced”(Lim & Fagan, 2014).
The Benefits of Consistent Work Hours:
A study done in Europe studied the link between 12-hour
shifts and nurse’s psychological wellbeing. Data was
collected from 488 hospitals, with 31,627 nurses
participating, and the use of Maslach Burnout Inventory.
Shifts were recorded and satisfaction was compared from
different shift hours, the results showed that the longer the
shifts the more dissatisfaction was reported along with
burnout and lower psychological well being. This can lead to
higher medical errors, decreased quality of care, and
economic loss through higher turnover rates. (Dall’Ora et al,
2015)
 This study was done a with significant sample population,
and was able to include data from 12 different European
countries. This is important because it can affect decisions
made by policy makers and nursing managers in the unit
when it comes to having nurses work overtime and regulating
shift hours in the future.

Implications for Nursing

 Decreasing burnout will help decrease nursing shortage
 Increase nurse empowerment.
 Increase positive patient outcome.
 Decreasing nursing burnout will also improve patient
safety.
 Knowing the importance of self care and needs of nurse
  By taking measures to prevent burnout in others and
ourselves, the unit will be more unified and less stressed.
Li Huo, Emily Lopez, Sadie Newey
Westminster College School of Nursing and
Health Sciences
References
Alexander, G. K., Rollins, K., Walker, D., Wong, L., & Pennings, J. (2015). Yoga for self-care and burnout
prevention among nurses. Workplace Health and Safety, 63(10), 462-470. doi: 10.3758/BF03193146
Dall’Ora, C., Griffiths, P., Ball, J., Simon, M., & Aiken, L. H. (2015). Association of 12 h shifts and nurses’ job
satisfaction, burnout, and intention to leave: Findings from a cross-sectional study of 12 European countries.
BMJ Open, 5(9), 1-7. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen- 2015- 008331
Dekeyrel, A. (2017, May). How will nurse burnout affect the medical industry in
2017. Retrieved October, 2017, from Http://www.mededwebs.com/how-will-nurse-burnout-affect-the-
medical-industry-in-2017
Duarte, J., & Pinto-Gouveia, J. (2016). Effectiveness of a mindfulness-based intervention on oncology nurses’
burnout and compassion fatigue symptoms: A non-randomized study. International Journal of Nursing
Studies, 64, 98-107. doi: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2016.10.002
Ericksen, K. (June 2015). Nursing burnout: Why it happens and what to do about it? Retrieved October 2017,
fromhttp://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/nursing/nursing-burnout-why-it-happens-and-what-to-do-about-it/
Gracia-Gracia, P., & Olivan-Blazquesz, B. (2017). Burnout and Mindfulness Self-Compassion in Nurses of
Intensive Care Units. Holistic Nursing Practice, 31(4), 225-233. doi:10.1097/hnp.0000000000000215
Lim, K., & Fagan, J. M. (2014). Burnout in the Nursing Profession Incorporating Workplace Exercise Facilities
and Stress Relaxation Workshops in the Healthcare Environment. rucore.libraries.rutgers.ed

Abstract
Title: What are Effective Strategies used to Prevent Nursing
Burnout?
Purpose: Using literature reviews to develop a set of
evidence-based strategies to effectively decrease and prevent
nursing burnout.
Background: Burnout in healthcare workers, especially
among nurses, can have an impact on overall healthcare
delivery system. For health in general and maternal health in
particular, wellbeing of healthcare workers, especially nurses,
is of paramount importance.
Methods: We searched nursing burnout and interventions by
using library database. Most articles found from Pubmed,
Cinahl, Medline and Embase. The analysis focused on four
articles about this study and other references provided a solid
support for the interventions stated above. We chose these
articles to include in our study because they focused on
effective strategies to decrease nursing burnout.
Conclusion: Some of the effective strategies to decrease
burnout are: Mindful based interventions, yoga for mind and
body self-care, physical activity, and the benefit of consistent
hours.