Nursing Burnout Due to COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world including the healthcare system. Many issues causing nursing burnout and an already serious issue of the nursing shortage were amplified due to the stressors of the COVID-19 pandemic. This increases the work of the remaining nurses and increases the risks for burnout and leads to an increased risk of compassion fatigue and mental health issues. The purpose of this study is to answer the PICO question “is the nursing staff who practice during the COVID-19 pandemic experiencing burnout?” 10 scholarly articles were found searching EBSCO and CINHAL databases using the keywords “Nursing Burnout”, “COVID-19 and Nursing Burnout”, and “Nursing shortage.” These 10 articles were then analyzed looking for how COVID-19 impacted the nursing field and how burnout impacts the field of nursing. The results show that the COVID-19 Pandemic is causing an increase in nursing burnout. There is evidence of increased nursing burnout compared to pre-COVID times. Factors that have been shown as the main causes are stressful work environments, inadequate staffing, lack of management or leadership, issues with scheduling hours, high nurse to patient ratios, little to no days off, the lack of compensation, and high incidence of patient death due to failure of patient treatment. The nurses who are practicing during the COVID-19 pandemic are experiencing burnout. The incidence of burnout has increased significantly compared to pre-COVID times. More research is needed due to how new COVID-19 is to the United States. With more research, more causes of burnout can be identified, and policies can be put in place to help decrease burnout.