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The phenomenon and term “burnout” emerged in the 1970s and was identified with people working in the human services careers. Initially seen as pop psychology because it lacked the traditional top down theoretically derived approach, burnout has been extensively researched and has generated theoretical models that illustrate the relationship that people have with work. Experts summarized the research on job burnout and defined it as a psychological syndrome characterized by overwhelming exhaustion, feelings of cynicism, and a sense of ineffectiveness or lack of accomplishment. Defined further, exhaustion is the feeling of being overextended, depleted emotionally and physically; cynicism and depersonalization are negative, disparaging responses to the job and can be seen as disconnection from the work; and ineffectiveness is the feeling of incompetence and lack of achievement.

Exhaustion is the most central characteristic of burnout. Typically, when people say they are “burned out” they are referring to their experience of exhaustion. The other two characteristics fully define the phenomenon. Research indicates that when one is exhausted, cynicism and depersonalization may be one way to cope . For your managers, that may be manifested as being less available to staff or approaching staff in a less personal and supportive way, not recognizing the uniqueness of each member of the staff. Another sign is the use of skeptical responses to organizational initiatives or indifference to organizational actions. Both of these characteristics can be related to work overload and conflict. Exhaustion and depersonalization may make it difficult to feel effective, but also a lack of key resources may contribute to ineffectiveness.

Research also has shown that women managers face greater sources of stress than their male colleagues. As they noted, historically, most research on occupational stress focused on white, professional men. Research that had been conducted with women produced conflicting results. Their analysis showed that some studies indicated that the multiple roles working women have increased stress. Other studies show that the number of roles does not influence a woman’s mental health, but the quality of experiences across the roles does. However, there is an indication that women in management face greater sources of stress. Given that nursing continues to be a predominantly female profession, healthcare organizations likely have more women in nurse manager roles and should consider what organizational support can be provided.