The workforce is a healthcare system’s most valuable asset and solutions to nurse burnout must be a priority for organizations and leadership. A commitment to easing stress and burnout in nursing and improving workforce well-being must be a collaborative approach between the organization and the individual. It’s not just about
our institutions must focus on fostering workforce well-being and finding solutions to nurse burnout. Together we can then make the necessary changes that will foster resiliency, improve workforce agility, and drive quality patient outcomes, now and into the future.
Below you’ll find advice and tools to help prevent and manage stress and burnout in nursing.
Workforce Well-Being Blogs and Articles
Improving joy at work and reducing burnout in health care workers in Victoria, Australia using the Institute for Healthcare Improvement joy in work framework: A mixed-methods study
Healthcare Management Review, January/March 2025
Burnout in health care workers (HCWs) has serious ramifications for individual well-being, patients, organizations, and health systems. This article discusses the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Joy in Work (JiW) Framework, which was implemented across diverse settings and provided organizations with a structured process to develop multifaceted improvements that resulted in enhanced resources that appeared to improve HCW well-being.
Reliability and Validity of Measures Commonly Utilized to Assess Nurse Well-Being
Nursing Research, November/December 2024
A healthy nursing workforce is vital to ensuring that patients are provided quality care. Assessing nurses' well-being and related factors requires routine evaluations from health system leaders that leverage brief psychometrically sound measures. To date, measures used to assess nurses' well-being have primarily been psychometrically tested among other clinicians or nurses working in specific clinical practice settings rather than in large, representative, heterogeneous samples of nurses.
Exploring Determinants of Nurse Retention - The Influence of Personal and Professional Values, and Work Environment in Predicting Intent to Leave
Nursing Administration Quarterly, October/December 2024
Nurse retention remains a pivotal issue, necessitating urgent strategies aimed at the recruitment and retention of highly qualified nurses. However, there is limited knowledge regarding the influence of nurses’ personal and professional values, along with work environment, on predicting intent to leave an organization. Establishing and maintaining supportive work environments is essential for retention, highlighting the importance of effective leadership.
Original Research: Addressing Nurse Burnout: The Relationship Between Burnout and Physical Activity
AJN, American Journal of Nursing, June 2024
This cross-sectional study sought to determine whether a correlation exists between self-reported physical activity and nurses' perception of burnout in a sample of hospital RNs. The secondary aim was to determine whether a correlation exists between the level of perceived burnout and the number of medication errors or near misses.
Burnout Among Palliative Care Providers
Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, November 2023
This systematic review was conducted to answer the question “what is known about burnout among specialty PC providers practicing in the United States?” More specifically, it was designed to identify the rate of burnout and factors that influence or mitigate it among PC nurse practitioners (NPs), physician assistants (PA), and physicians and to inform future research.
Creating a Healthy Work Environment
AJN, American Journal of Nursing, March 2023
A 2021 American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) survey, which included nurses across practice settings, found a dramatic decline in the health of nursing work environments, prompting the AACN to call for "bold, intentional, and relentless efforts" toward improvement. Ensuring the existence of healthy work environments is essential to the well-being of health care providers and the resiliency of health care organizations. This article provides a list of resources aimed at fostering healthy work environments.
Tips for nurses struggling with the weight of burnout
Nursing Made Incredibly Easy!, March/April, 2023
Amid growing strains on the healthcare system, it can be hard to find relief-yet it's imperative that nurses find the resources and time to take care of mental health and well-being. To help maximize self-care and improve patient care, the author of this article provides tips for nurses dealing with burnout.
Prioritizing Nurses’ Mental Health: We need to do better
Lippincott NursingCenter, September 2022
Healthcare organizations need to adopt a healthy work environment culture, staff their patient units by integrating nurse competency and patient acuity with their staffing systems, and demonstrate they value their workforce by focusing on retention of their staff by addressing compensation and benefit issues.
Nurses Suffering in Silence: Addressing the Stigma of Mental Health in Nursing and Healthcare
Nursing Management, August 2022
As much as nurses have championed efforts to destigmatize the public's social stigma related to mental health, more attention and effort are needed to destigmatize mental health within nursing ranks.
Collaboration: Fostering Workforce Resiliency and Wellbeing in Four Easy Steps
Lippincott NursingCenter, July 2021
How can healthcare organizations collaborate more efficiently with their workforce to foster resiliency and promote the well-being of their staff?
Beyond Burnout – The Moral Injury of Health Care Today
Lippincott NursingCenter, December 2020
There is no simple solution, but we need leadership willing to focus on a culture of safety and ethics.
Nurse Well-Being Tools from Professional Organizations