Nevada RNformation - December 2021

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Page 10 • Nevada RNformation December 2021, January, February 2022 Research & EBP Corner Submitted by Mary Bondmass, Ph.D., RN, CNE This RNFormation feature presents abstracts of research and evidence-based practice (EBP) projects completed or spear-headed by nurses or student nurses in Nevada. The focus is on new evidence (i.e., research) or the translation of evidence (i.e., EBP) in Practice, Education, or Research. Submissions are welcome and will be reviewed by the RNF editorial board for publication; for consideration of your work, please send an abstract submission to mary.bondmass@unlv.edu In this issue of RNFormation, the focus of Research and EBP Corner is on the multidiscipline health care providers who presented evidence in poster format at UMC’s 4th Annual Research Empowerment Day. Posters were peer-reviewed, and first, second, and honorable mention awards were presented. Due to COVID19, this year's event was virtual, and because it was recorded, nurses can receive free CE for viewing all the posters and completing the evaluation. Use this link https://www.umcsn.com/VirtualPosterDay/ or use the QR code on the winners-list below to access all the poster submissions. Posters receiving a First Place designation in each of the five categories are presented here. Completed Clinical Projects NursingALD.com can point you right to that perfect NURSING JOB! NursingALD.com Free to Nurses Privacy Assured Easy to Use E-mailed Job Leads
December 2021, January, February 2022 Nevada RNformation • Page 11 Clinical Research Real Talk About Burnout Bree Becker, MSN, NP-C, RNC-MNN bbecker@wematchwell.com Reprinted with permission from Georgia Nursing April 2021 issue Knowledge Enhancement Case Presentation Research & EBP Corner continued on page 12 Recently I was putting my son to bed. We read one of my favorite children's books, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. Despite reading this story many times, I was struck by the visceral sadness of the tale. It’s a children's story with a simple plot. A boy is climbing a tree (personified as a woman), and he happily swings from her branches, devouring her apples and enjoying all the comfort the tree provides. Readers follow the boy on his journey through adolescents, adulthood, and then as a tired elderly man. Throughout his life, the boy takes, and the tree gives. Whatever his needs are at each stage of his life, the tree is happy to provide a piece of herself to help. She gives her branches for shade, then her wood to help build a house. Finally, with her resources depleted, she dwindles to a stump. And even then, she manages to provide a place for the boy, who is now an elderly man, to sit. I realized the tree's exhausted state represents how many nurses feel. For us, The Giving Tree is an all too familiar story. The depleted tree personifies the exhaustion and burnout most of us are experiencing today. I receive daily articles that reference burnout and company ads that offer a solution specifically for me. But at the end of the day, the responsibility of executing the proposed solution falls back on me. "Here is something else for you to do to help you with your burnout." Burnout was identified as an issue decades ago, and is only getting worse. Despite public awareness, nurses are still being asked to do more with less. The pandemic highlighted nurses struggle with the mental and physical toll of the job. Instead of offering a cliche intervention for burnout, I want to have a real conversation. Let’s ask hard questions. Let’s stop pretending we know how to fix a problem that’s plagued us for decades. My personal problem with many of the resources designed to address burnout is that it creates more work for me. Now don’t get me wrong, I like learning about yoga and I actually believe things like exercise and diet have a positive effect on your mental health. But the reason I feel exhausted as a nurse is not because I don’t exercise or eat healthy. I have always adopted a healthy lifestyle even before I was a nurse. I do think that my healthy lifestyle allowed me to push myself physically and mentally as a nurse. The long hours, constant stress, and erratic schedule didn’t catch up with me for a decade. But I eventually burned out. And no amount of green smoothies or yoga could cure me. I found myself becoming overly cynical, feeling like I was not making an impact, and dreading work. Burnout is the symptom of a larger disease: it’s the result of poor processes within institutions and the larger healthcare system overall. Nurses experienced burnout long before this pandemic. The pandemic has only cast a light on an ugly truth most of us have been aware of for a long time. If burnout is not the healthcare worker’s problem alone to solve, who is responsible for solving it? Here are real problems, I don’t have the answers. But I know we are too fragile to continue this way. Last year, I was clueless about the horror the world was about to experience due to COVID. While I knew our medical system was broken and that healthcare workers were being stretched beyond capacity, I didn’t realize what a pandemic would do to our profession. I didn’t realize how vulnerable we are. The future is now. The what-ifs and maybes are reality. We can’t afford to hobble along anymore. We have to be willing to talk about the real issues and the first step is asking hard questions. I know I can’t fix this today and I know I can’t fix this alone. To me, it’s a fight worth fighting. And maybe, by the time I retire, nurses won’t suffer the way I’ve seen my peers suffer over the last decade. And maybe, unlike The Giving Tree, nurses won’t give until we are depleted and we will be empowered to care for ourselves the way we care for others.
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