In this blog, veterinary nurse Zeph Jasper opens up about his personal journey with burnout, from recognising the early signs of stress and overwhelm to finding ways that flexible work hours can create a healthier work-life balance.
My first experience of burnout
I think my first experience of burnout happened very early on in my nursing career. I had just started my training and with an extremely busy practice, busy to the point that patient care was severely compromised. I didn’t know any better and I assumed that all practices were like this. I was so overworked and so sore all the time from constant cleaning all day. I have chronic back pain anyhow, I have for years, and I had a particularly bad flare that led to me stopping the night in hospital. I contacted my placement and they showed very little concern for my welfare. During my time off trying to get out of this flare, I realised just how severely burnt out and fatigued I was. I had witnessed a lot during my placement there that had traumatised me and it was only when I was out of that situation and moved elsewhere that I realised how abnormal my placement there had been.
The pressures of a busy career
My next experiences of burnout happened more gradually and in a better environment. But long hours and some difficult cases ended up piling up in my head and I was left feeling persistently worn out, like I was running on empty. I would often try to push through until my next few days of holiday, but this failed on a few occasions, and I called in sick. After a couple of these sick days, I was given an informal warning and the head nurse suggested a few things that might help me out. At the time, I had been working a five-day week and so I was cramming all my personal life into Saturday and Sunday, which meant I never truly felt rested, particularly if I had a busy weekend or a lot of travelling.
Adjusting work hours to prevent burnout
I’m neurodivergent, and I do think that this all fed into my sense of burnout and how regularly I would hit it. My head nurse suggested a four-day week that would enable me to have a long weekend but longer days. For me, a couple extra hours added onto each day was preferable to another day. This worked out really well for me and since then I have taken less sick days. Of course everyone is different, but I do think a lot of managing burnout is trial and error and if anyone reading this is experiencing burnout and doesn’t already work a shorter week, I would recommend trying it to see if it works for you. Equally, if you’re struggling with long hours, look at reworking your hours to shorter days over more days perhaps. I had a vet colleague drop down to part-time hours, by the time she was finished with tax, there was very little difference in her pay-check but a better work-life balance. For those who can, part-time hours can also be very effective.
Recognising the signs and taking action
Despite the accommodations my workplace has made, generally speaking, every 2-3 months I feel it creeping in and I either take the time on weekends to really rest (by that I mean sleep!) or call in sick. I think once you’ve felt burnout once, you know the feeling and you can see it coming. Sometimes I’ll just walk around in a daze, feeling lethargic and unsociable for no particular reason. Sometimes there will be a difficult case that triggers it and then its just a downward spiral. I try to regularly check in with myself and my colleagues and that helps, but sometimes you just need a break and there should be no shame in that. At least, that’s how I’ve always approached it. I will ask myself, am I truly working at my best? Do I think taking this day off would help me reset and work at my best? If the answer is yes, I think it’s a good enough reason to call in sick. You don’t have to be physically ill to call in sick, if you feel unwell in any way then that is perfectly valid.
