From the Guidelines
Recovering from occupational burnout syndrome requires a comprehensive approach that prioritizes rest, boundary-setting, and lifestyle modifications, as well as organizational support and cultural shifts, as suggested by the most recent and highest quality study 1. To address burnout, it is essential to focus on both individual and organizational factors.
- Start by taking time off work if possible, even a few days can help, though severe burnout may require weeks or months.
- Establish clear work-life boundaries by turning off notifications after hours, delegating tasks, and learning to say no to additional responsibilities.
- Prioritize sleep hygiene with a consistent 7-9 hour schedule and create a relaxing bedtime routine.
- Regular physical activity, even just 30 minutes of walking daily, helps reduce stress hormones and improves mood.
- Practice mindfulness through meditation, deep breathing, or yoga for 10-15 minutes daily to reduce anxiety.
- Reconnect with enjoyable activities and supportive relationships that may have been neglected.
- Consider professional help from a therapist using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), which are effective for burnout, as recommended by 1. Organizational support is also crucial in preventing and addressing burnout, as highlighted by 1 and 1.
- Health care systems should ensure that staff's basic needs are met, including food, clothing, shelter, and family care.
- Organizations should prioritize the well-being of all staff, including nonclinical staff, with attention to adequate nutrition, hydration, rest breaks during the workday, collaboration and socialization with colleagues, exercise, sleep management, family support, and support for professional psychological services.
- Interventions addressing health-care worker mental health should be easily available, voluntary, free of stigma, and utilize peers, as suggested by 1.
- Health care systems should identify and monitor factors that contribute to burnout, such as excessive workloads, inadequate time for recuperation, and lack of input into work conditions, as noted by 1.
From the Research
Treatment Options for Occupational Burnout Syndrome
- Prevention and treatment of burnout are essentially parallel efforts, including greater job control by the individual worker, group meetings, better up-and-down communication, more recognition of individual worth, job redesign, flexible work hours, full orientation to job requirements, available employee assistance programmes, and adjuvant activity 2
- Addressing burnout may involve a multipronged approach, including increasing awareness of work-related stress and burnout, promoting mindfulness and self-care practices, ensuring optimal mental health services, using digital technologies to address workplace stress, and improving organisational policies and practices focusing on burnout among healthcare providers 3
- Therapeutic strategies to tackle burnout and emotional exhaustion in frontline medical staff may include mindfulness-based stress reduction, cognitive behavioral strategies, meaning-centered therapy, and compassion training 4
- Mindfulness-based interventions (MIs) may have a positive impact on burnout among health professionals, although the current evidence is limited and heterogeneous, with some studies reporting promising results 5
- Organizational level interventions and individual or personal interventions can be used to address burnout, with the idea of identifying and addressing root causes of burnout and related conditions being highlighted 4
- Factors that lead to increased resilience, engagement, and thriving in clinical workplaces should be considered in the development of therapeutic strategies to address burnout 4