Challenge Tips

Recognize Burnout Risk in Yourself and Others

Burnout is a real and serious condition, especially for nurses. It is the accumulation of stressors over time, and people who experience workplace burnout typically have these symptoms:

• Cynicism, which is indifference toward your job, organization, or team
• Emotional exhaustion
• Feelings of self-doubt or inadequacy

Without intervention, burnout can impact your well-being and the well-being of your peers in many ways. It negatively affects work and social relationships and can increase your risk of heart disease and mental health conditions.

Learning to identify the early signs of burnout in yourself and your team can help you prevent it from becoming a serious problem.

Your Action for Today

Share this printable Stress Continuum Card (PDF) with a peer. Together, identify your current color zones (green, yellow, orange, or red) and discuss what’s contributing to your stress. You could even send a text to each other with a heart in the corresponding color, so you know how you both are feeling.

Using the tips from Day 2 and Day 3,, address your stress using your personalized coping strategies. Help each other if either of you is struggling. This will help you both provide meaningful peer support.

Bonus idea: Help your team and leadership understand and express their feelings of stress. Keep a “Check-In Jar” in the break room where staff can anonymously rate their stress levels. Leadership can use this information to identify when support is needed.

Join us on day 6: A sneak peek - Learn about the power of leading by example.

Missed day 4? Catch up here.

Find this helpful? Forward this email to a nurse friend or colleague and encourage them to sign up for the challenge at hnhn.org/challenges.