It is quite common to come across the term professional burnout. This term is associated with a lack of job satisfaction, especially working with other people. Thus, doctors, nurses, medical staff, psychologists will be the most vulnerable to occupational burnout. They will be those professional groups whose work involves helping others, but after a certain period of time does not bring satisfaction and contentment, helplessness appears and an inability to fully engage in their work. Research describing this phenomenon shows that this is mainly due to the limitations of helping other people, but also to an inability to cope with the stresses that are inherent in working with patients (e.g. stress).
It is important to be aware that occupational burnout affects people with certain personality predispositions. Being aware of the signs and symptoms of an emerging burnout syndrome helps to identify worrying signals early on. While these signals are occurring, it is important to look at how you are functioning at work and at home, look at the possibility of change, try to accept that sometimes you need to work less, do only as much as you need to do, and don't feel guilty about it. Sometimes it may be that a temporary isolation from work, a prolonged rest and sometimes even a change of workplace or even in the most difficult cases a change of profession is needed. Measures that can protect against the occurrence of burnout are to take care of the balance between the different spheres of life (work - home), to maintain a good balance between work and rest, to ensure adequate effective rest, and to take care to maintain links with family and loved ones. It is important to try, when leaving work, to leave one's working life where it belongs, not to take work outside of work. This can be quite difficult, as it is often the case that at home, medical staff are thinking about their patients and the decisions made or the treatment given.
How can professional burnout be prevented?
It is very important for everyone's mental health to take care of it every day, to be gentle and understanding to yourself, to focus on the quality of your life here and now. Being forgiving to yourself means giving yourself the right to make a mistake, to have a worse day, to not know something, to take a break sometimes. It is good to focus on things and activities that give us pleasure (sports, hobbies, interests), to think positively about ourselves, to look for the positive aspects of life, even the smallest ones. Daily mental hygiene protects us from the effects of too much stress, makes us more relaxed and helps us to deal with difficulties in a different way.
Prevention
The prevention of professional burnout also involves making a self-diagnosis, which will help us to identify the current sources of overload - whether this is due to our personal characteristics or our attitude to work, or perhaps because of its organisation. It is worth examining the possibility of change in three important spheres. It is important to look at one's lifestyle and ensure that one's living habits are adapted to current needs. It is important to analyse one's resources, capabilities and limitations. Finally, accept that sometimes you need to work less.
photo: panthermedia
This work can be done on your own, but you can also enlist the help of a psychologist. Talking to a psychologist can be a good way for the doctor himself to unwind after meetings with patients. It is not about sophisticated psychological techniques, but about throwing out one's emotions, resolving one's doubts or eliminating the guilt that sometimes arises. The psychologist can suggest what can be done with these emotions, how to prepare better for the future, what to do for oneself in the moment so that work-related difficulties do not have a deeper impact on life. It is important to look for our own ways of coping and de-stressing, because everyone knows themselves best and the best solutions to our problems always come from ourselves.
