Nursing school burnout is characterized by emotional exhaustion, feelings of detachment, low personal fulfillment, poor concentration and other symptoms. Often caused by high academic expectations and poor work/life balance, nursing student burnout can be addressed through healthy lifestyle choices, a strong support network and good time management skills.
Nursing school can be an exciting time in your life. It represents a fresh start with a new, meaningful career and opportunities to give back to your community. However, nursing school also brings new pressures, with high academic expectations and a busy schedule. This is especially true of an Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program, such as the ABSN program at Madonna University, which can allow you to graduate with your nursing degree in as few as 16 months.
Although the stress of nursing school might sometimes seem overwhelming, there are ways to overcome it and succeed. It’s essential to avoid improper habits that may lead to nursing school burnout and to embrace proactive strategies for preventing or dealing with it.
What Is Nursing School Burnout?
Burnout is a work-related phenomenon often affecting individuals in service-oriented professions, especially healthcare. It is listed in the WHO International Classification of Diseases and occurs due to chronic stress at work. It is characterized by emotional, physical, and cognitive exhaustion and depersonalization.
Nursing students are particularly at risk of developing signs of burnout. According to a 2023 study, more than 70% of nursing students report feelings of burnout. When left unaddressed, burnout can lead to significant consequences, including an impact on mental health, socioemotional effects, academic repercussions, and even physical health problems.
Recognizing the Signs of Student Nurse Burnout
The ideal solution is to prevent burnout from occurring in the first place. However, when this isn’t possible, the next best thing is to recognize the signs as quickly as possible to address the issue. If you notice the warning signs discussed below, you or a cohort member may be experiencing severe nursing school stress indicative of possible burnout.
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Socioemotional Warning Signs
There are a slew of socioemotional warning signs of potential burnout among nursing students. For example, you might no longer feel interested in spending time with friends or enjoying social activities and may become increasingly isolated.
Other socioemotional warning signs include:
- Feelings of uselessness or hopelessness
- Lack of motivation
- Feeling emotionally exhausted
- Experiencing symptoms of anxiety and/or depression
- Frequent irritability
- Feeling disengaged from your tasks, school, and daily life
- Loss of self-confidence
- Experiencing low levels of personal fulfillment
- Developing a cynical attitude
Cognitive and Academic Red Flags
Nursing student burnout can take a heavy toll on one’s academic progress. You may feel unmotivated to complete your coursework, for example, or have trouble concentrating on it.
Other cognitive and academic red flags of burnout can include:
- Inability to focus on work
- Turning in assignments late or not at all
- Failing to be an active participant in class or lab discussions
- Receiving poor performance reviews during nursing clinicals
- Frequent absenteeism
- Poor test scores and lab performances
- Making careless mistakes
- Skipping study sessions
Physical Signs
It isn’t always easy to tell when physical symptoms are the result of mental health issues. Yet, the body and mind are indeed intricately linked, and emotional exhaustion and burnout can sometimes cause physical health issues.
Some of the physical warning signs of nursing school burnout may include:
- Becoming ill more frequently
- Low energy levels/lethargy
- Gastrointestinal complaints
- Insomnia
- Changes in appetite and eating habits
- Headaches
Common Causes of Nursing Student Burnout
Burnout among nursing students does not always have a simple single cause. Instead, it can be a combination of factors that lead to feelings of detachment and mental exhaustion. Let’s examine some of the most common causes of severe, chronic nursing school stress.
Rapid Pace of the Program
There’s a lot to appreciate about accelerated nursing degree programs. They offer the opportunity to enter the nursing workforce sooner when you graduate in as few as 16 months. ABSN programs facilitate career transitions for those seeking a fulfilling second or third career. Yet, there’s no question that they are challenging.
ABSN programs confer a BSN degree—traditionally a four-year degree. This means they have to pack a lot of instruction into a shorter amount of time. It can take time to adjust to the rapid pace of the program. Nursing students who fall behind may have trouble catching up, leading to feeling overwhelmed and burnt out.
Academic Expectations
Nurses are responsible for their patients’ lives and well-being. They have a great deal of professional responsibility, and as a result, nursing students must meet high academic expectations to adequately prepare for this challenging career. Even a straight-A student might occasionally have trouble coping with the high standards.
Clinical Pressures
Nursing students complete a series of clinical rotations. They are placed within nearby healthcare facilities to gain hands-on nursing experience. During these clinicals, instructors and preceptors are careful to ensure that nursing students aren’t asked to perform a task that is too advanced for them, respective of where they are in the ABSN program. However, nursing students may still feel pressure to perform at a high level as they learn to navigate clinical situations.
Poor Work/Life Balance
Nursing school is like a full-time job. Nursing students may find themselves working well over a 40-hour week to meet academic expectations. Because of this, it can be hard to find the time to catch up with friends, enjoy leisure activities, and keep up with self-care. The challenge of maintaining a work/life balance may contribute to nursing school burnout.
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Ways to Avoid & Overcome Burnout in Nursing School
Although burnout in nursing school might seem overwhelming, there are ways to cope. The following tips can help you prevent burnout from occurring at all and address it if it does occur.
Build a Support Network
Lack of support from family, friends, and nursing cohort members commonly contributes to burnout in nursing school. Accordingly, building a solid support network is one of the ways to prevent or address burnout. Before starting nursing school, talk to your family and friends about your upcoming schedule. Don’t be afraid to ask for help with personal tasks, like childcare, and let them know you may need to rely on them to lend a sympathetic ear occasionally.
During nursing school, try to socialize with members of your nursing cohort outside of class and labs. Group study sessions are a great way to lessen isolation and connect with others.
Practice Good Time Management
Everyone has the same 24 hours in each day; it’s how you use those hours that matters. Focus on time management right from the start of nursing school to avoid falling behind in your work. Write down everything you need to do at the beginning of each week, and then go through the list and prioritize your tasks. Focus on completing the most urgent and important tasks first.
Optimize Your Study Time
Time is a precious commodity in nursing school, and feeling short of it can contribute to feelings of emotional burnout. While you can’t manufacture more time, you can focus on being as productive as possible with the time you have. Avoid distractions during study time, start each study session with a predetermined agenda, and use active study techniques. To maximize productivity, Madonna offers various resources to students, including a Tutoring Center, Writing Center, Accessibility Services, and other academic support.
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Practice Self-Care
Don’t wait until you feel frazzled and stressed to start practicing good self-care. Prioritize your wellness right from the start of nursing school with these tips:
- Don’t sacrifice sleep for the sake of more study time. Practice good sleep hygiene by using blackout curtains and maintaining consistent sleep/wake times.
- Plan out your meals and snacks in advance so you’ll be more likely to eat nutritious foods and less likely to eat junk food and takeout.
- It can be challenging to schedule long exercise sessions in nursing school. Instead, consider participating in high-intensity interval training (HIIT) during downtime.
- Take advantage of convenient and flexible online mental health counseling options or the Student Assistant Program (SAP), which offers students 24/7/365 referral support.
Enjoy a Supportive Learning Community at Madonna
At Madonna University’s ABSN program, you’ll find a highly supportive learning environment with caring cohorts and nursing instructors who are committed to supporting your success. Theresa Ellis, a student in Madonna University’s Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program, felt supported in her journey from the moment she applied: “[…]the advisor[…] once I applied to Madonna, she kept in contact with me […]she made me feel like she wanted me here.” When you choose Madonna for your nursing education, you choose a community that cares about your achievements. Madonna nurses are different thanks to our values-based education that thoroughly prepares our graduates to tackle any dilemma in nursing.
Here, you can choose from three start dates per year and begin your education as soon as you are ready after completing any required prerequisites. Contact an admissions representative today for personalized assistance in navigating the application process.