Survey: 70% of nurses report burnout in current position

Brian Zimmerman -

While the number of nursing jobs increased by 6 percent from 2012 to 2016, and is poised to increase an additional 7 percent from 3.6 million positions in 2017 to 3.9 million positions in 2021, the nursing skills gap is also growing, according to a market analysis conducted by CareerBuilder.

In analysis of job postings, CareerBuilder found 1,749,900 registered nurse job postings in the first quarter of 2017. However, among these postings, only 178,586 were unique, meaning each unique posting was uploaded an average of 10 times, which is indicative of a highly competitive job market. With employers struggling to fill nursing job vacancies with qualified candidates, the workload for staffed nurses has increased, which may contribute to burnout.

A survey involving more than 3,000 private sector employee, including 93 nurses, conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder found 7 in 10 respondents reported feeling burnout in their current roles. Still, despite high levels of emotional stress, nurses are largely satisfied with their jobs overall. Seventy-six percent of nurse respondents reporting job satisfaction and 33 percent reported dissatisfaction with their career progress.

"Nurses, the backbone of U.S. healthcare, often handle life or death situations, so this high level of stress may come as no surprise," said Rosemary Haefner, chief human resources officer at CareerBuilder. "However, high levels of stress sustained over a long-period of time can be a major detriment to one's health. Employers must ensure their nurses are getting the support they need, such as flexible schedules, expanded headcount or tools to deal with stress."

The American Nurses Association has designated this year's National Nurses Week — held May 6 to May 12 — the "Year of the Healthy Nurse" with a theme of "the balance between mind and spirit" to place an emphasis the health and well-being of these essential frontline providers.

To download the ANA's National Nurses Week Toolkit, which includes materials to aid in the promotion of the event, click here.

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