How to avoid professional burnout after quarantine: the doctor answers

Treatment and rehabilitation of patients is emotionally intense and associated with many factors that cause stress for doctors, nurses and paramedics. Health care workers often suffer from burnout, which results in professional deformity. In Russia, more than 70% of doctors and 95% of nurses are women. Today, against the backdrop of the pandemic, they are especially vulnerable: returning home after a difficult shift in the hospital, they are forced to live their lives, which leaves no time for rest and recuperation.

However, it is not just health workers who are subject to burnout. So what is this syndrome? What factors influence its formation? What symptoms indicate a problem and how to prevent it? Irina Mansurova, a medical psychologist, an oncopsychologist at the European Clinic, told Wday about this.

Psychologist, oncopsychologist of the “European Clinic”

What is burnout?

The term “burnout” originated as a metaphor for a burning candle. This word very accurately speaks of what is happening inside a person – he feels exactly burned out. At first, it may even seem that it is just a lack of mood and strength (they still get tired at work!).

Burnout Is a syndrome resulting from chronic stress in the workplace that a person cannot cope with. Work takes up most of the lives of many people. And it’s not only about the time spent in the service, but also about the emotional component, because many of us think about work after returning home, again reliving our successes or failures. Therefore, it is quite logical that all kinds of behavioral and emotional disorders can be associated with it.

WHO made occupational burnout in the international classification of diseases as one of the factors affecting health. Representatives of professions related to communication are more susceptible to this condition. This includes healthcare professionals.

Burnout reasons

Representatives of professionswhose activities are related to communication and high responsibility (for example, when it comes to health, life and safety) are at increased risk of professional burnout. For example, medical workers are in contact with a large number of patients and let all their experiences and emotions pass through themselves, try to help, hope to cope with any suffering of the patient, but the expectation does not always coincide with reality. As a result, against the background of informational and emotional overload, burnout syndrome occurs. According to statistics, intensive care doctors and oncologists are most susceptible to this condition due to the high mortality rate of their patients.

Also, the provoking factor is the stress that occurs in the background lack of sleep, irregular working hours и night shifts… Fatigue grows like a snowball, turning into a chronic state that entails a wide range of psychosomatic disruptions, including burnout syndrome. 

Burnout symptoms

Burnout syndrome is an insidious condition that involves all areas of human activity. This is a depletion of emotions, mental activity, health – in many ways it is similar to depression. In doctors, the condition is characterized by the following symptoms:

• Emotional exhaustion. A person feels inner emptiness and the absence of any emotions (both positive and negative). He is indifferent and disappointed in his work;

• Changes in behavior with others: frequent dissatisfaction and aggression, inability to find a common language with colleagues, patients, subordinates and neglect of their feelings;

• Decreased self-esteem. The specialist is tormented by a feeling of his own inferiority, he feels less productive, and any task seems to him beyond his powers. As a result, feelings of helplessness and guilt arise, associated with the illusion of their incompetence. During this period, a person strives for loneliness, his emotions have no outlet and are directed towards himself. This state provokes intellectual and emotional stupor.

• Burnout can present with physical symptoms such as dizziness и insomnia. 

Burnout syndrome, unlike the common cold or SARS, does not go away on its own. Its danger is that, against the background of growing problems, a person, instead of analyzing the problem and overcoming it, closes in on himself and does not act, which only complicates the condition. It takes effort to beat burnout.

Prevention

Today, the danger of professional burnout is associated with a way out of self-isolation and a return to the previous rhythm of life and work. To be productive and enjoy the process, representatives of different professions should adopt the following guidelines:

• Turn on time out mode. Absolutely everyone needs rest. This is not only about lunch break, but also about the annual vacation. For some, for complete relaxation, you need to go to another country, and for someone, a trip out of town is enough. The main thing is to abstract from the familiar atmosphere and get distracted from work. Even if you are pleased with the usual watching of TV series, lying on the couch, do not deny yourself such pleasure;

• Follow the threshold principle. Separate work and privacy. After a day at work, when you come home, go to the shower and imagine that you are washing away all negative emotions from yourself. This will help you relax and free yourself from thoughts of work. Within a week, thanks to this ritual, your condition will improve;

• Switch! Remember that your life is not all about work. You have friends, family, and maybe a hobby that gives you positive emotions. These are the best methods of psychotherapy;

• To improve performance, place on workplace family photos, nice trinkets, reminiscent of something good, pictures pleasing to the eye. Download beautiful music to your smartphone that will relax and calm down in the most difficult periods.