Why are new grad nurses feeling burnt out and stressed?

I was talking to a friend this last week, and we talked about how it’s been working with new grads over the last year. We talked about some of the dangerous situations we’ve seen them involved in and how we’ve seen them respond. Now more than ever, new grads are feeling stressed and burnt out, and with great reason. Not only are they dealing with the stresses of being a new nurse, add to that all the changes healthcare has recently gone through.

Education has been quite different from what I experienced. I had in class training with professors readily available for questions. I was able to practice skills with them watching me and correcting me as needed. I was able to walk into a facility and watch the nurses during their day. I watched how they handled themselves with challenging situations, how they collaborated with providers, and how they interacted with families. I got to speak to patients and ask questions to nurses who were currently working the bedside. 

With many campuses cancelling clinicals, the hands-on experience was very limited if not gone. Even the little things like watching nurses interact with providers, patients, and families.. That wasn’t available. Not to mention the education once on the job. Many new grads were robbed of a full length training or were trained by new nurses too. Just to be clear, I’m in no way trying to discredit new grads. You are valuable and an asset, but there are just some things that are learned by experience and years on the job. And it’s simply not fair to either party. Of course, this has not been the experience for all. But to those of you who did experience this, I’m sorry.

You deserve proper training. You deserve to feel prepared, confident, and supported in this new role. Know this is not normal. Know nursing was not always this stressful or dark. I’d like to think that once this all settles and is over, it’ll get better. I wish I knew when this will happen. I hope this will happen. Please know that whatever it is you’re feeling is valid. Just because you’re “new” doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to feel burnt out. 

I had a vision of what I wanted my nursing career to be like, I was devastated that I felt so disillusioned and out of love with nursing at about 2 years in. I was upset at myself and felt defeated. At that time, I was working as Charge Nurse in a busy, short-staffed ER. I reminded myself how I handled x amount of high acuity patients alone this shift, how I worked 12 days in a row, how I was stuck in an airport halfway across the world and managed to make it back into the country an hr before my shift just to get home, change and go to work because I couldn’t leave the unit short staffed. I wore my burnout as a badge of honor until that “honor” became unbearable. So unbearable I quit my job. 

I don’t remember burnout being covered in nursing school. I wasn’t aware of the symptoms or how to manage them then. I also thought I was “too young of a nurse” to even feel disillusioned with nursing, too young to want to leave it. “That’s something older nurses feel,” I told myself. I ended up taking a month off to rest and reset, and when I went back to the bedside I switched specialties. I also learned that I had a voice and that in order for my voice to be heard, I had to use it. I made my expectations clear with administration, I set my boundaries, and I kept them. I got a $10/hr pay increase. I went from working 20+ shifts per month to working 8, and I basically made my own schedule. You too have a voice, use it to advocate for yourself. Whether it’s by refusing to give up your off days, requesting a raise, bringing awareness to unsafe practices, negotiating your time off, or negotiating other benefits. Use your voice, always in an assertive but respectful manner. Remember, you’re an asset to the team. Don’t let anyone make you feel otherwise.