How would you define burnout and how does it differ from compassion fatigue?

For me, burnout is when you are repeatedly being given greater responsibility or the expectations on you are greater than you can handle over that sustained period of time.

I think critical care nursing is always going to have its busy days, its busy weeks, but I think there's a big difference between having a busy couple of days when you feel that you're being run ragged, but then if it's followed by a slightly more relaxed period.

And what we saw during COVID was that, you know, you had that busy period and it just kept going and going and going and going.

And that's when we saw a lot of people burning out.

You just couldn't keep on top of the demands being placed upon you.

I think you see a lot of people in management roles start to suffer burnout as well.

How can leaders create psychologically safe environments where nurses feel able to talk openly about stress and emotional challenges?