How to Avoid Stress and Burnout as a Travel Nurse

Studies indicate that over 60% of registered nurses report burnout. You can make a fair argument that travel nurses are registered nurses facing additional stress factors. So, in this article, we’ll review the additional stressors the travel nurses face and discuss some methods and tips for decompressing to reduce stress and avoid burnout as a travel nurse.

Factors Contributing to Nurse Burnout in General

HelpGuide.org defines burnout as a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion resulting from prolonged and excessive stress. Let’s take a look at some of the most common causes of burnout for nurses in general.

Inadequate Staffing

Over 60% of nurses who experience burnout say that inadequate staffing is the reason for their burnout. This makes inadequate staffing is a leading cause of burnout among nurses.

While nurses do work as part of team with staff to support them, there are certain tasks that nurses cannot delegate. Meanwhile, a significant percentage of a nurse’s responsibilities are time sensitive.

Only 3 states have mandatory nurse-to-patient ratio laws. Another 10 states have implemented alternative measure to address healthcare staffing levels.

Administrative Burdens for Nurses

Administrative burdens on nurses have increased over time. Nurses spent much more of their time on direct patient care in the 1950s than they do today. According to Peachy Hain, MSN, RN, Cedars-Sinai’s executive director of Nursing, some studies indicate that nurses spend as much as 40% of their shift on documentation.

Lack of Sleep for Nurses

Patients need care 24×7. As a result, nurses often have to work long and odd hours. 12-hour shifts, night shifts and rotating shifts are all common.

This all makes it difficult for nurses to maintain routine sleep schedules. Therefore, their circadian rhythms get thrown off which reduces their sleep quality.

In fact, studies show that 49% of nurses report getting less than 7 hours of sleep per night. Only 28% of people nationally report the same. Meanwhile, over 31% of nurses experience chronic insomnia.

High-Pressure Environments for Nurses

Healthcare professionals dealing with high-acuity patients often face the stress of closely monitoring multiple medications and equipment for multiple patients. The repercussions of failure are extremely high.

Emotional Aspects of Patient Care

Nurses work with people and families when they are most vulnerable. The emotional highs and lows of patient care can take their tole over time.

Cognitive Over Stimulation

Nurses are constantly context shifting. For example, a study indicates that an ICU nurse will here 150 to 400 alarms per day. And the same study indicates that responding to alarms only constitutes 35% of the nurse’s day. This level of context shifting is over stimulating for the vast majority of people.

Bad Management

Finally, there is a whole set of issues that all fit into the category of bad management. These issues include, but are not limited to, inefficient workflows, workplace bullying, role ambiguity, poor career development and micro management.

Unique Factors Contributing to Travel Nurse Stress and Burnout

As if that large list of stressors is not enough, travel nurses face an additional set of unique challenges. Here is a list of the main issues:

Travel nurses are removed from friends and family while on assignment

Being away from friends and family can negatively impact your emotional health. That’s because it can make you feel lonely and isolated.

Studies indicate that even the perception of loneliness and isolation can lead to a host of health issues including depression, anxiety, lower sleep quality and other issues. In fact, studies even found that loneliness and isolation can increase your risk of premature death by up to 100%!

Travel nurses job search more due to short term assignments

Travel nurses often feel like they are engaged in a perpetual job search. That’s because the most common assignment length is only 13 weeks.

A survey found that 74% of Gen Z and Millennials, 70% of Gen X and 56% of Boomers reported that job searches negatively impacted their mental health. Meanwhile, nearly half of respondents claimed that ghosting was one of their biggest frustrations. I point that out because I believe ghosting is quite prevalent in travel nursing.

Travel nurses move to new cities more often

For some folks, moving to a new city is invigorating and uplifting. However, moving to a new city can negatively impact the mental health of other folks. There’s even a term for it, relocation depression.

Travel nurses start new jobs more often

Travel nurses also start new jobs at a much higher rate than staff nurses. Surveys indicate that a significant majority of people report fear, self-doubt, new-job-jitters and sleep loss when they start a new job. A significant percentage also report feelings of regret.

Travel nurses often the first to float

Travel nurses are often the first to float. As a result, they tend to float at a higher rate than staff nurses. Numerous studies indicate that floating causes anxiety, stress, dissatisfaction and feeling disrupted.

Travel nurses often marginalized by core staff

At least one study recognizes that permanent staff sometimes express animosity towards travel staff.  If you peruse social media and/or listen to travel nurses and permanent staff alike, then you’ll see evidence that this animosity may be quite common. Obviously, experiencing animosity can certainly cause stress and anxiety.

Travel nurses move house more often

No matter how you slice it, moving house a total pain. Even if a travel nurse packs really lite, moving house can still take tons of time and energy. Imagine doing it once every 3 to 6 months!

Obviously, travel nurses endure many additional stress factors. So, let’s take a look at some methods and tips that will help travel nurses decompress and avoid burnout.

Find a Safe and Comfy Place to Call Home

Many travel nurses find it difficult to find a great place to call home while on assignment. This is largely due to the short-term nature of the work.

However, many services dedicated to short-term stays have popped up over the last 10 years. Moreover, if you gain deep knowledge about travel nurse housing, you’ll have a much easier time finding a place that perfectly suits you. For this, we have you covered. Check out these highly detailed articles and you’ll be all set!

• Should you take company housing or find your own?
• Everything you need to know about travel nurse company housing
• The ultimate guide to finding your own travel nurse housing

When you arrive at your temporary home, make it feel like home quickly. This way, you won’t feel like you’re living on the go.

Utilize Your Benefits

Be sure to familiarize yourself with your travel nursing company’s benefits. Often times, benefits packages include services for mental health that often go unnoticed and unutilized.

Also, check to see if your travel nursing company offers and Employees Assistance Program (EAP). These programs are often free and available even if you don’t take the company’s health benefits. Additionally, they sometimes offer free counseling sessions with services like Better Help.

Finally, check to see if the hospital you’re contracted with has any health and wellness programs you may qualify for. I’ve had nurses tell me they were able to access yoga, pilates and even mental health counseling from hospitals they worked at.

Take Extra Care to Watch What You Eat

The food we eat has a profound impact on both our physical and mental health. Be sure to take extra care with your food choices during the most stressful periods of travel nursing. For example, you can expect orientation and the first few weeks of a new assignment to be extra stressful.

Meal Plan

Meal planning is one of the main methods for ensuring we stay on track with healthy eating. Bring your slow cooker on assignment so you can have healthy options available in a flash for those long work days. Perhaps more importantly, always bring your own food to work to avoid the constant barrage of pizza and sheet cake that hospital management so often provides.

Get Your Exercise

Many people find it difficult to exercise while traveling. This is typically because they don’t have access to a gym or they’re just feeling out of their element.

Don’t overcomplicate it! Get out for a brisk walk and some stretching. Go to a park or public school and do some wind sprints and body weight exercises. If you get your mind out of the way, your body won’t know the difference…exercise is exercise.

Take Control of Your Sleep – The Importance of Routine

As I indicated above, nurses in general have more trouble with sleep than the average person. I’m willing to wager that travel nurses have more trouble with sleep than permanent nurses. That’s because I think being away from home makes it more difficult to sleep.

The single most important aspect of sleep hygiene is your sleep schedule. That is, it’s important to start sleeping and wake up from sleeping at the same times every day. Doing so helps you establish consistent and beneficial circadian rhythms.

For sleep specifically, this means that you will be able to fall asleep more quickly, stay asleep and get back to sleep in case you wake before it’s time to get up. This all means that you get much better sleep quality and all the benefits thereof.

Moreover, a consistent sleep routine will also help with all your other lifestyle challenges. Eating, exercising, consistent energy when you need it and everything else will fall in line.

To get your sleep routine down, you can use all the other sleep hygiene tactics you routinely see. These include eye masks, blackout binds, stop eating at least two hours before bed, reduce screentime before bed and ear plugs.

Take Time Off

Remember that one of travel nursing’s big advantages is that you can take time off between assignments. In fact, I worked with a number of travel nurses who routinely took 3 to 6 months off every year.

You certainly don’t need to take that much time off to realize the mental health advantages of time off. However, just remember that you can and should take plenty of time off if need to.

Keep in Touch with Friends and Family

When you’re on a travel nursing assignment, remember that you do have a support network. It’s just in a different zip code.

Stay in close contact with your family and friends while on assignment. Speak with them on the phone or meet with them virtually via Google Meet or some other meeting platform.

Remind Yourself It’s Only 13 Weeks

It’s important to remember that your travel nursing assignment is short term. This is another major benefit of travel nursing.

You don’t need to concern yourself with office politics or fitting in with the team long term. You can focus on patient care and leave the rest at the door when you leave.

Don’t Forget the Power of Baths and Showers

I know it sounds basic, but a nice, hot bath can do wonders for your physical and mental health. They can release endorphins, educe cortisol, relax your muscles and even help you sleep. Take your baths and showers with this intent.

Branch Out When You Can

With all this talk about focusing on yourself, it can be easy to forget that we are social creatures. Socializing with other people really does help us decompress and get happy. The challenge for travel nurses is that they’re outside their home network and comfort zone all by themselves.

Make friends with the permanent staff when you can. Find other travel nurses at the same facility or in other local hospitals. Use meetup.com when you can.

As always, I hope you found this information helpful. And please do not let this article discourage you is you are considering travel nursing. If you have the experience necessary to a land a travel nursing job, then you are highly employable. You can easily find the next permanent staff job should you decide travel nursing is not right for you!