Professional burnout is not a new term. Having been in existence for decades, “burnout” has become antiquated and no longer holds the impact it once did regardless of the enormous toll it plays on nurses lives. In an effort to gain more awareness, burnout is now often referred to as compassion fatigue. A catcher phrases but regardless of what you call it, burnout is not going away.

It is estimated that burnout affects up to 50% of frontline clinicians and it has rapidly escalated triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Up to 73% of palliative care and hospice nurses now report moderate rates of burnout. Frechman and Wright (2023) in their scoping review investigating burnout in hospice and palliative care nurses found personal factors, organizational/workplace factors, and nursing professional development factors as overarching categories that impact nursing burnout. Armed with this knowledge, organizations can take steps to intervene with burnout, create a supportive environment and impact the rates of nurses quickly exiting their chosen profession.

Read Frechman and Wright research:

Frechman, E., & Wright, P. M. (2023). Nurse Burnout in Hospice and Palliative Care: A Scoping Review. Illness, Crisis & Loss, 31(1), 137-150.