Concept Analysis - Burnout in Nursing

Concept Analysis Paper-Burnout in Nursing
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Concept Analysis Paper-Burnout in Nursing
The nursing field is exposed to numerous concepts, and some have been critically analyzed to build a better understanding and inform decision-making. During research approaches, the central focus is to increase a body of knowledge by discovering facts and connections through scientific inquiries (Peters, 2018). A concept analysis is one of the study methods that help contribute new insights specifically about topics or critical issues and brings about clarifications and meaning. John Wilson proposed the concept analysis approach in 1963 and outlined eight steps to analyze a concept (Peters, 2018). The paper explores burnout in nursing and examines the concept using Wilson's model.
Burnout
As a concept, burnout entails a series of unrecognized physical and mental symptoms resulting from excessive work or energy. Although the idea is a relationship crisis with activities, it is not necessarily concerned with disorders related to employees. Typically, professions that involve interactions with people have emotional commitment, especially when individuals cared for require assistance and support. In nursing, such are primary considerations and obscure the acknowledgement of burnout or how it affects staff. Sometimes nurses can reach their capacity limit and exhibit a state of emotional exhaustion (Parola et al., 2022). Once that happens, there is less emotional energy, and professionals may not adequately respond to care delivery as expected. Emotional exhaustion refers to chronic stressors in the work environment, including overload, which induces pressure on individuals' lives (Parola et al., 2022). The lack of resources to manage stressors and deal with demand make employees physically fatigued. Consequently, a person's exhaustion state causes emotional and cognitive distancing from work.
The concept is relevant to nursing as it significantly impacts nurses' health, wellness, and performance. Work burnout can have numerous effects on employees' mental health, with those suffering at risk of depression, anxiety, distress, poor decision processing, demotivation, and disengagement from work. In realizing these outcomes, a paradigm of change can be supported to prevent or manage burnout in the healthcare setting and promote employees' well-being.
Specific Uses of the Concept
To understand the concept of burnout, one should extensively know the meaning of the term. Many studies in the workforce have identified the topic as an outcome, with rare explicit made on what constitutes it, factors leading to its development, and the potential impacts on people and organizations (Dall’Ora et al., 2020). Burnout was first coined in 1974 when an American psychologist, Freudenberger, first observed a lack of motivation and commitment among mental health clinic volunteers (Dall’Ora et al., 2020). A scale to measure burnout was developed, and according to its conceptualization, the issue was determined as a response to work stress featured by feeling emotionally exhausted and lacking resources. Maslach burnout inventory (MBI) theorized that the situation of exhaustion is a state resulting from the mismatch between people and work dimensions like reward, workload, values, and fairness (Dall’Ora et al., 2020). The concept has significant use when related to emotional strain and compassion fatigue.
Zeng et al. (2020) define emotional strain, a helpful term in burnout, as exhaustion with unsuccessful or adverse emotive responses. Processing things emotionally is the first process when a person interacts with an environment as numerous physiological, cognitive, and behavioral responses are activated to support adaption to change. On the other hand, compassion fatigue (CF) was first proposed by a nursing instructor in 1992 to infer professional incompetence caused by emotional tiredness (Zeng et al., 2020). With time, nurses' empathy might decline when exposed to indirect traumatic events, and CF occurs, causing a reduction in interest in helping others. Some studies highlight the relevance of the burnout concept, pointing to its use at individual and organizational levels (Parola et al., 2022). For instance, an analysis of family doctors found that a high burnout rate, when assessed using an MBI survey, was linked to the intention of shifting jobs and alcohol abuse (Blechter et al., 2018). Burnout is common not only in nursing practice but also at other places of work and home when caring for family members.
In settings like sports, individuals master social interactions, hard work, and triumph for success when confronted with failures. However, sometimes recreational athletics can turn into competitive activities, causing burnout. Professionals in sport psychology define the concept as physical and emotional exhaustion leading to reduced athletic accomplishment (Giusti et al., 2020). The prevalence of young people specializing in sports has increased recently, and this change is linked to adverse consequences, including burnout and injuries.
Concept Defining Attributes, Antecedents, and Consequences
Peters (2018) informs that defining attributes are integral to concept analysis. They include key features that appear frequently and help differentiate from other perspectives. Burnout in nursing is characterized by emotional exhaustion and a lack of energy to provide care services to patients. Other distinguishable features include depersonalization and lack of personal accomplishment, which can be considered inefficient at work. (Parola et al., 2022). Define depersonalization as a distant contact whereby a nurse starts to rely on remote approaches toward clients while disregarding other unique qualities. She develops negative feelings with cynical attitudes due to exhaustion and being self-protective as a coping mechanism to avoid an additional task that will cause more drain.
Emotional tiredness is present in multidisciplinary views and is a crucial element pointing to the manifestation of burnout. The attribute is evident in low tolerance to work stress and lack of motivation. Given that the nursing field has excessive demands and prolonged exposure to stress, it is apparent that emotional drain is a vital principle in burnout. Parola et al. (2022) informs that emotional exhaustion happens when nurses reach their total capacity and lack the energy to respond or react emotionally. On the other hand, low individual accomplishment implies a sense of incompetence and lacking productivity in the workplace when attending to patients. A work environment can be enduring or overwhelming demands that cause fatigue to erode effectiveness. In this attribute, notable signs include a lack of crucial resources, the existence of social conflicts, and inconsistency.
Antecedents
Antecedents of burnout in nursing include responsibility, workload, supervision, and lack of communication in the workplace. Studies point out that in a work environment with too much stress, such could be due to unaccomplished supervision (Cooper et al., 2020). A robust supervisory approach lowers pressure by allowing people to work quickly, eliminating repetitive tasks and difficulties. Thus, a poorly supervised practice will result in lengthy procedures and persistent stress that will cause burnout in employees. Supervision is an essential organizational management duty that can help to recognize and eliminate disadvantages and encourage people to take desirable roles. In the healthcare system, accurate administration is supposed to make work processes smooth for nurses, including foreseeing adequate resource supply for staff, communication, and feedback.
An increased workload is a vital factor causing burnout for nurses. Parola et al. (2022) explains the situation of excess or heavy task as one in which employees can struggle to accomplish requirements. Individuals with a profound commitment to jobs suffer disappointments when they fail to meet essential objectives. The tendency of work extending to personal or private life is a burden due to interruption of opportunity to recover. Usually, most employees exposed to workload have struggled to balance individual life with organization requirements. The nursing profession is associated with long work shifts and frequent overtime, especially when organizational issues like staff shortage or high rate of the patient population are rampant. Burnout can also be a communication-related issue, which is apparent in how symptoms emerge. Poor interrelationships between professionals can arise for both intentional and unintentional reasons. Cou0led with the unpredictability of healthcare environments like rising patients' needs, unplanned communication among staff may produce work overload, causing stress and burnout.
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