1. Recognize the Symptoms of Healthcare Burnout
To recover from burnout, it’s essential to recognize your occupational fatigue in the first place. Physical and social symptoms of fatigue are often in plain sight of others, but you may fail to see them yourself. To get started on the path of recovery, you must determine “What is healthcare burnout?” in the first place.
According to the U.S. Surgeon General, symptoms of burnout in healthcare include withdrawal from social activities, greater agitation and anxiety, increased alcohol and substance use, and poor personal hygiene. If you recognize any of these symptoms, healthcare burnout may be impacting you. Based on the latest data from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 46% of healthcare workers said they were burned out in their workplace. This indicates a simple truth: you are not alone and many allied health professionals face this feeling.
2. Practice Mindfulness and Stress Management Techniques
When combatting symptoms of burnout, practicing mindfulness can help you develop the ability to let things go. Mindfulness means grounding yourself in the present moment and understanding that you cannot control your surroundings, instead, you can control your response. This practice applies to healthcare professionals as the roles often are full of unpredictability, irregular breaks, and days when resources are stretched thin. You can achieve this by dedicating 5–10 minutes of your day to focus on your breathing, jot down your thoughts in a journal, and practice gratitude.
According to Harvard Medical School, attention, memory, mood, and emotional regulation improved for people who practiced mindfulness. Similarly, other stress management techniques have been found to offer these same benefits. Methods like yoga, meditation, exercise, proper dieting, and limiting social media usage can help you stay grounded and avoid burnout in healthcare.
3. Seek Professional Support & Advocacy
While family and friends are a wonderful outlet for expressing challenges, it may be difficult to explain your situation to those who may not fully understand what you’re going through. As mentioned above, nearly half of American healthcare workers experience fatigue in their role. This means that many people are in your shoes. Reconnecting with peers from your program, networking with professional societies and organizations, reaching out to mentors, and conversing with your coworkers are some of the avenues you can take.
By conversing with the resources mentioned, you can spark real change and gather helpful advice to tackle your burnout and confront institutional issues. The American Hospital Association, the National Society of Allied Health, and the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions are examples of large establishments that can assist. However, for more specific initiatives (depending on the profession), it can depend on the type of allied health role. For example, physical therapists can connect with the American Physical Therapy Association and MRI technologists can connect with the American Society of Radiologic Technologists.
Additionally, in the rise of social media platforms, networking on LinkedIn can help you seek support. By sharing your experience through the correct language and tone, you can attract like-minded people. However, be cautious when reaching out so it doesn’t appear you are badmouthing your current place of employment.
4. Take Up a Temporary Travel Position
For some people, burnout in healthcare means their place of employment is no longer suitable. A toxic work environment can do unremarkable things to your mental health and lead to lower-quality care. To switch up your surroundings, you can consider taking a leave of absence, reduce your work hours, or leave your job altogether. Alternatively, you could explore a temporary travel allied health position instead of staying in your permanent role.
Allied health professionals who take on travel health assignments enjoy a variety of benefits. These include competitive pay, the opportunity to work in varied environments, gain experience in new settings, and explore different locations during time off—all of which can help alleviate the effects of healthcare burnout. Additionally, if you find that a travel assignment isn’t a good fit, you can rest easy knowing that these positions are temporary.
Another factor that may be contributing to your burnout is the fact that you may be living paycheck to paycheck. According to Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA), 62% of clinicians live paycheck to paycheck. This may translate to feelings of running on an endless treadmill—not seeing your hard work amount to anything. To break the cycle, many allied health professionals are choosing temporary travel positions because of the negotiation advantages that can lead to higher pay.
5. Utilize Paid Time Off (PTO)
In the world of healthcare clinicians, taking time off can be difficult due to factors like staffing shortages, demanding patients, and specialized tasks. To overcome the challenges of taking PTO, it’s important to plan with your family, team members, and manager to ensure a relaxing vacation. Making a definite plan can make taking PTO necessary and non-negotiable. If you’re severely burned out—don’t put pressure on yourself to make your time off eventful. Staycations are integral to reboot for many people.
6. Treat Yourself
Besides utilizing PTO, connecting with your peers, and practicing stress management techniques, it’s important to treat yourself. We encourage you to take advantage of the many websites and brands that offer discounts for allied health professionals. Below are some of the sites we have found:
Interested in switching up your career to avoid burnout? Check out our travel allied health roles today to make the change!