I had the opportunity to go to a nursing conference recently where one of the speakers discussed burnout and the importance of re-charging our batteries.

He also talked about “quiet quitting” and signs that someone has done so (or is getting close).

Have you ever noticed these in a coworker?

Becoming quiet at work– not engaging in huddles or meetings/not offering ideas anymore

Overtime has become the “norm”

Little mistakes/near misses

Doing the bare minimum at one’s job/no longer doing anything above or beyond what is expected

Other things I’ve noticed over the years:

Keeping to oneself

No longer sharing (things that used to be talked about freely, not necessarily huge things. Even things like plans for the weekend).

My favorite part of his presentation was how nurses need to learn how, after draining our batteries, we must take time to recharge. This goes for anyone. If we just keep running running running and doing doing doing we are going to run our “battery” dry. And crash. Burnout. Leave the job, or even leave nursing altogether.

He talked about his personal practice of seeing where his battery is at either at the very end of a month or the very beginning of the next. I got some good ideas that I’m going to try out.

Personally, I don’t want to burn out. No one does. But things like not taking a break or not going to the bathroom for an entire shift are still, unfortunately, part of nursing culture. And it is not good for us.

It needs to stop. We need to take our breaks. We have to make time to go to the restroom. We aren’t doing ourselves or anyone else any favors by skipping these things. Patient care suffers. Medical errors are a huge problem. It is not a badge of honor or anything to be proud of to go 8 or 10 or 12 hours without using the bathroom!

Let’s make taking breaks, eating lunch somewhere away from one’s desk and/or patients, and getting out of the facility the norm. That way, we can keep ourselves and our patients healthy. And please, nurses. Go use the restroom.