Page 219 - Essentials of Nursing Leadership and Management, 5th Edition

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206 unit 3 | Professional Issues CikguOnline
Men often define themselves in terms of their sep- burnout. For example, when you are asked to work
arateness and their career progress; women are more another double shift or the third weekend in a row,
likely to define themselves through attachment and you can say no. At the same time as you are setting
connections with other people. Women who try to limits at work, you can expand your outside activi-
focus on occupational achievement and pursue per- ties so that you live in a large world in which a blow
sonal attachments at the same time are likely to to one part can be cushioned by support from other
experience conflict in both their work and personal parts. If you are the team leader or nurse manager,
lives. In addition, society evaluates the behaviors of you also need to recognize and accept staff mem-
working adult men and women differently. “When bers’need to do this as well.Ask yourself the follow-
a man disrupts work for his family, he is considered ing questions:
a good family man, while a woman disrupting work
■ Do I exercise at least three times weekly?
for family risks having her professional commit-
■ Do I have several close friends I see regularly?
ment questioned” (Borman, 1993, p. 1).
■ Do I have a plan for my life and career that I
Closely tied to conflicting demands is the deci-
have told someone about?
sion to come to work when ill. Nurses who come to
■ Do I have strong spiritual values that I carry out
work when ill describe tension associated with
in practice regularly?
making this decision: tension between the nurse
■ Do I have some strong personal interests that I
and the supervisor, tension between the nurse and
regularly enjoy?
the team members, and tension within the nurse
due to responsibilities to self and others. As you Studies have shown that the two best indicators of
move forward in your career, be proactive in work- customer satisfaction are related to employee satis-
ing with team members and your supervisors in faction and employee work-life balance. Well-
helping yourself and others find balance in the rounded employees have a different perspective on
workplace (Crout, Change, & Cioffi, 2005). life and are perceived by employers as more trust-
worthy and more grounded in reality. You do not
Technology have to give up your personal life to excel in your
Decisions related to changes in technology are professional life (Farren, 1999).
often made without input from employees. These
same employees are then required to adapt and Consequences
cope with the changes. How many of the following Certain combinations of personal and organizational
changes have you had to adapt to: e-mail, voice factors can increase the likelihood of burnout.
mail, fax machines, computerized charting, desktop Finding the right fit between your preferences and
computers, cellular phones? Often, employees feel the characteristics of the organization for which you
that their role has become secondary to technology work can be keys to preventing burnout. Health
(DeFrank & Ivancevich, 1998). care demands adaptable, innovative, competent
employees who care about their patients, desire to
Lack of Balance in Life continue learning, and try to remain productive
When personal interests and satisfactions are lim- despite constant challenges.Unfortunately,these are
ited to work, a person is more susceptible to the same individuals who are prone to burnout if
burnout; trouble at work becomes trouble with that preventive action is not taken (Lickman, Simms, &
individual’s whole life. A job can become the center Greene, 1993; McGee-Cooper, 1993).
of someone’s world, and that world can become Burnout has financial, physical, emotional, and
very small.Two ways out of this are to set limits on social implications for the professional, the patients,
the commitment to work and to expand the num- and the organization. Burnout can happen to any-
ber of satisfying activities and relationships outside one, not just to people with a history of emotional
of work. problems. In fact, it is not considered an emotional
Many people in the helping professions have dif- disturbance in the sense that depression is; instead,
ficulty setting limits on their commitment. This is it is considered a reaction to sustained organization-
fine if they enjoy working extra hours and taking al stressors (Duquette, Sandhu, & Beaudet, 1994).
calls at night and on weekends, but if it exhausts The shortage of professional nurses is predicted
them, then they need to stop doing it or risk serious to continue for at least another 10 years.Two of the