Burnout in the NICU
Understanding NICU Nurse Burnout and Possible Next Steps
Favrod et al. (2018) state that nurses in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) frequently encounter work-related stressors. These work-related stressors include patient death, traumatic codes, and emotional trauma. Due to these stressors, NICU nurses are at an increased risk for developing mental health problems such as burnout, depression, secondary traumatic stress, and anxiety. Favorod et al. (2018) argue that teaching NICU nurses coping strategies to effectively digest traumatic stressors and providing time to recover following traumatic events can improve professionals' mental health, decrease nurse burnout, and improve the quality of patient care.
After studying 91 nurses, Favrod et al. (2018) can provide a glance into the everyday stressful and emotional work of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurses. While understanding the types of psychological trauma that can occur, Favrod et al. (2018) also shed light on the prevalence, with greater than forty-five percent of NICU nurses reporting experiencing a minimum of one traumatic stressor every month of their employment. Throughout my research, this was one of the only recent evidence-based articles that discussed the mental health of NICU nurses. While limited by their amount of nurse subjects, Favrod et al. (2018) do a great job at identifying the need to address NICU nurses' mental health and the importance of providing a dedicated space and tools to do so.
In addition to being at increased exposure to work-related stressors, a nurse’s level of competency can also contribute to their burnout. An article written by Soroush et al. (2016) assesses the impact that burnout can have on nurses’ ability to competently perform essential clinical skills needed in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). According to Soroush et al. (2016), clinical competency is nurses’ ability to perform technological and communicational skills and apply clinical reasoning, emotions, and values, all within an acute clinical setting. Clinical competency is directly related to the quality of patient care nurses can provide. When clinical competency is compromised by nurse burnout, patient care quality is also compromised. After identifying this negative correlation between burnout, clinical competency, and patient care, Soroush et al. (2016) call for nurse managers to help address this issue by diminishing factors that lead to burnout and providing nurses with tools to cope with burnout and improving clinical competency.
Burnout is well understood as the negative impact of stressors on a nurse’s energy, resulting in emotional exhaustion, decreased motivation, and increased frustration. Within their article, Soroush et al. (2016) also attribute a reduction in nurses' clinical competency as an outcome of burnout. This article speaks directly to the nurse quality indicator of “patient satisfaction with nursing care.” In addition, this article shows that nurse burnout is not a personal issue; it's a widespread issue that can put patients at risk. While nursing burnout should be addressed even if it does not impact patient care, the evidence in this article reinforces the call for hospitals to start intervening and supporting their nurses’ mental health.
Reference
Favrod, C., Jan du Chêne, L., Martin Soelch, C., Garthus-Niegel, S., Tolsa, J. F., Legault, F., Briet, V., & Horsch, A. (2018). Mental Health Symptoms and Work-Related Stressors in Hospital Midwives and NICU Nurses: A Mixed Methods Study. Frontiers in psychiatry, 9, 364. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00364
Soroush, F., Zargham-Boroujeni, A., & Namnabati, M. (2016). The relationship between nurses' clinical competence and burnout in neonatal intensive care units. Iranian journal of nursing and midwifery research, 21(4), 424–429. https://doi.org/10.4103/1735-9066.185596