This year I am trying a different strategy to avoid nurse burnout. I pushed and pushed until finally I got management to agree to let me have a set schedule. It makes ALL the difference. Life is so much easier to plan out, and you don’t end up with that thing where some shifts are jumbled up too close to one another. Sometimes I get obsessed with looking at my calendar with all the shifts I have to work, and if I squint my eyes a little bit I can make them disappear. Seriously though, working 12 hour shifts is a good way to avoid burnout, because in any given week, you have 4 days off. My new schedule is 2 days on, 3 days off; rotated every two weeks. Now when I look at the calendar, it looks like I have 2 “weekends” (i.e. 2 days off in a row) in one week!  It looks beautiful and manageable, so no more squinting.

When the famine causes burnout, look to the feast. 

One thing about my unit is that it is definitely feast or famine. You can work 2-3 days in a row and it’s a full on rodeo, leaving you stressed and bedraggled, wondering if administrators are going out of their way to to put you in situations that make you want to quit. On the other hand, there are times when you just sit around waiting for admissions, feeling like you’re watching the paint dry. So it’s good to have a strategy for both extremes. For the rodeo? “This too shall pass,” is your mantra. Yes, it’s a cliché but it’s true. As grueling as it gets, it never lasts forever. This is hospice, after all.  

Have a strategy for the paint drying days too. Sadly, I often find myself scrolling and scrolling social media on my phone, instead of trying to do something productive. This year I will resolve to bring my personal laptop so I can sneak in some time to pay bills, organize photos/files, or even write some blog posts. The social media scrolling is a brainless, dopamine infused activity that leaves me feeling bad about how I fill up my down time. This year I will resolve to get the laptop out and do something constructive. 

Despair is only in the Moment

Then there’s the “What the heck are we doing in this broken health care system, let me out I don’t want to be a part of it anymore” problem. That comes up often. What is the strategy for dealing with that? I haven’t quite figured that out yet. I think it’s to recognize that the despair temporary, and so one must simply move on to the next moment. When you get past the despair you realize that there is a patient in front of you, in need of your care. It’s that simple. Yes, we are operating within a system of undervalued human labor, cheap, convenient unhealthy food, and sedentary lifestyles that are “fixed” with the promise of endless pharmaceuticals. Nowhere do we see the end result of all that dysfunction, quite like hospice. But at the end of your life, you still deserve to have dignity and comfort, and as hospice nurses, that is what we show up for.

In summary, here are my strategies for dealing with nurse burnout in 2025:

A fixed, 12 hour shift schedule is good: Four days off, every single week! 2 weekends in one week!

Use the laptop to be more productive. Put down the phone. Scrolling increases the despair, while being productive is hopeful and satisfying.

Do not get caught up in the despair of our broken medical system. No matter how much it is broken, we are all human beings that both need care, and can provide care.