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Sharon Lutman, RN (second from the right) a licensed marriage and family therapist in the San Jose, CA area, facilitates "We Care," a support group in which participants focus on ways they can feel good about themselves that aren't nursing related, such as through hobbies and relationships.

About 10 years ago, Janine Mazabob, RN, director of neuroscience services at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, said she felt "totally exhausted." Working full time under high-stress, high-trauma conditions and then having to meet certain demands at home had left her feeling burned out-and wondering if she should change her career.

"You don't have that same spark that you used to have," Mazabob said. "You feel overwhelmed. I knew I had to do things for myself to continue to stay in nursing."

She took a year and a half off, and discovered that what initially drew her to nursing was still there: She liked being able to connect with patients during both the happiest and most devastating times of their lives.

Mazabob realized she could recapture her initial spark if she eliminated other stressors. So she did, and returned to critical care, where she had worked since 1974. She hasn't experienced burnout since.

Mazabob's experience isn't unique. Although the 2002 NURSEWEEK/American Organization of Nurse Executives National Survey of Registered Nurses showed 77 percent of respondents as being satisfied with being nurses, 42 percent said they planned to leave their nursing positions within the next three years. Of that 42 percent, 71 percent said they would stay within nursing, pursuing career opportunities or education; 21 percent said they planned to leave nursing for another career; and 14 percent said they planned to retire.

Of those respondents who were not working as paid nurses, 6 percent listed their main reason for not working as being burned out.

Kenny De Meirleir, MD, Ph.D., human physiology professor at Free University of Brussels, found that career-related depression exists primarily in "people-helping" professions such as nursing. "The main cause of burnout was a 'too-heavy workload,' especially due to a shortage of personnel," De Meirleir concluded in his study.

Linda Aiken, Ph.D., RN, professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, and her research team, whose study appears in the October 23-30, 2002 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that one additional patient per nurse increased burnout by 23 percent.

However, as Mazabob's story shows, experiencing burnout doesn't necessarily mean it's time for a career change. Sharon Lutman, RN, a licensed marriage and family therapist in the San Jose, Calif., area, said that burnout usually is not about the nursing job itself, but about nurses not knowing how to take care of themselves.

By learning how to reduce their number of stressors, nurses can minimize burnout and rediscover their passion for nursing:

Figure out what's causing your burnout. If it really is your career, then you may want to consider a change. However, if it's other parts of your life, then you should eliminate those stressors instead.

Look at what's negotiable. Mazabob cut down on watching television and devoted more time to doing things that were more important to her, such as spending time with her sons. She also buys more prepared foods, so that she doesn't have to spend as much time cooking, and leaves the chores to a housekeeper.

Mazabob also realized that she wasted 10 hours each week commuting. So she began taking the bus, where she uses her laptop and finishes paperwork.

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