What is Bedside Balance?

I am a nurse.

That single sentence can hold a lot of meaning for a lot of different people. It can mean: “I’m a healer.” Or maybe: “I’m a hero.” Those of us who worked through the pandemic will remember hearing this thrown around quite often. It might mean: “I know a lot about humans; emotionally, anatomically, physiologically.” For some, it may be as simple as: “it’s my job.” But here’s one thing that seems universal for nurses (though often overlooked). “I deal with difficult situations on a daily basis.” This leads me to the reason I started Bedside Balance and the topic I want to cover here—nurse burnout.

I started as a new grad ICU nurse in early 2020. Like a lot of new grads then, I hit the ground running. Short staffing, constant high acuity, so many lost patients. I didn’t process any of it at the time. I just kept showing up. That’s what we do, right? But somewhere along the way, the exhaustion stopped feeling temporary. It wasn’t just being tired after my shifts—it was a kind of fatigue that didn’t go away. I started questioning if I could keep doing this. Was it was worth it? Did I even have anything left to give?

It took me a long time to realize that nurse burnout doesn’t just go away on its own. You have to actively work through it, and for me, that looked like small but intentional changes.

I’d like to highlight a few things that have helped me most here:‎‎

1. How to beat nurse burnout: Actually talking about the hard moments…

I owe a big thank you to my wife for this one. So many times in nursing, you’ll find yourself in the immediate aftermath of an intense, tragic, or otherwise difficult event. You might feel like you were caught in a tornado and whirled around the room. Sometimes you’ll even look like it too 😅.

But while you’re standing there, trying to regain your composure, the hospital is still hospital’ing. Patients still need beds, there are still meds to give, and ultimately, you do still have a job to do. This often creates a particularly bad habit. Simply pushing right past opportunities to process, reflect, and generally make sense of what you’ve just experienced.

Sometimes, that opportunity really is right there, in the moment. For example, many hospitals have post-code debriefing sessions that are not only helpful for improving patient outcomes, but for taking a moment to process, too. However, many times, that opportunity simply passes us by. That’s the nature of our gig.

But, and this is really important, you can (and should) still create time and space to revisit those hard moments. This can be with a trusted friend, family member, partner, spouse, or even your cat (yes, I’ve really done this). Even if you’re not comfortable talking about it with someone just yet, try taking just 5-10 minutes to jot down your thoughts about your shifts. Trust me, if you don’t make a habit of this, it’s only a matter of time before nurse burnout sets in.

If you’re a new nurse, create the habit now, right from the start. If you’ve been a nurse for a while (same spot I was in), start today. It might take some time, but you can regain resilience over time if you’re consistent and beat nurse burnout.

2. How to beat nurse burnout: Reflecting on what I’ve learned…

Let’s just be honest, before even starting your first job as a nurse, you’ve already learned a lot. Anatomy, physiology, chemistry, nursing fundamentals, all seven-hundred of the different sub-categories of nursing (please don’t ask me anything about OB 😆). You’ve just got to know (pardon my language) a lot of shit to safely take care of patients. I’d be willing to bet some of you know this all too well having just graduated. The good news is, if you made it through, you really have learned a lot! And you’ll only continue to learn more and more the longer you’re in this field (spoiler alert: you’ll likely learn more in your first few years on the job than you did in school, but that’s a topic for another day).

Something I realized along the way is that after I learn something, it might then seem obvious. You may be thinking “well… duh, so what?” But I think it plays an important role in nursing in a few key ways.

1. If this happens repeatedly over the course of your career, eventually, you are going to lose sight of where you started. You’ll forget about the “you” you were when everything seemed scary, difficult, or confusing. This will prevent you from seeing the path of your growth along the way. Reflecting on what you’ve learned will keep that picture of growth front-of-mind—you’ll feel confident, competent, and proud of the nurse you become.
2. Even after you do become that seasoned nurse, you’ll still remember what it was like not to be. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “nurses eat their young.” Unfortunately, there’s still some truth to that, and I believe this phenomenon plays a huge role there (Google “the curse of knowledge” to learn more about this). Nurses who regularly reflect on what they’ve learned are kinder, gentler, and more effective educators.
3. Sometimes you’ll forget even the things that seemed obvious when you learned them. Take the time to revisit new concepts, ideas, skills, etc., and you’ll be a sharper, more knowledgable nurse. Take the time to reflect on what you’ve learned in your nursing journey—you, your coworkers, and your future preceptees/student nurses will all be thankful.

3. How to beat nurse burnout: Making space for the things that make me feel human outside of work...

I know what it feels like to slowly lose your grip on the things you used to love spending time on before you started nursing. I’ve listened to countless coworkers talk about this, and I’ve lived through it myself. I love playing the drums; I’ve been doing it since I was 13-years-old. But, after about 6 months into my career, I found myself spending less and less time playing (it didn’t help that I was working night-shift and my neighbors probably wouldn’t have appreciated my 2am drum solos, but you get the point). I was mentally, physically, emotionally drained from the job, so I often just didn’t “feel like” it.

You have to push past this. The good news is, the two tips above will help with this, too, but I highly recommend setting aside specific time in your schedule each week for the stuff that you just love to do. For me, that looked like blocking off a couple hours to play the drums; for you, it might be walking your dog, spending time with friends, or binge-watching 4 hours of true crime (no judgment here).

I know I’m not the only one who’s struggled with nurse burnout, so I’d love to hear from others who’ve come out the other side (or are still figuring it out like me). If you’d like more resources for how to implement these habits into your life as a nurse, check out The Bedside Balance Journal.

Happy Nursing,

Nate