Here's What Causes RT Burnout

Taking care of ventilators is busy in and of itself. Although, what we do to manage ventilators is pretty well cut and dry. What really burns us out are all the other calls we get. The calls we do not need to get. And they are seemingly endless. And these are the calls that, as soon as you sit down, cause your phone to ding. 

And then you're like, "$#@ D#%##%!! I just #$#@##%# sat down!

And it doesn't matter if you are a Christian or not. 

If this happened once or twice in a shift, it probably wouldn't be a big deal. But they keep happening over and over and over. And this is what truly burns us RTs out. And these often come from nurses or nursing assistants. And it is no knock on them. They are doing a great job. They do a great job. And they are truly concerned for the patients they are caring for. 

Since the beginning of COVID, we have known that COVID patients desat when they get up to go to the bathroom. And it generally takes them some time to recover. And then their sats stay up in the 90s on whatever oxygen settings they are on. We have learned to be patient, so long as the sats don't drop too low. 

But, it's when you get called for a sat of 87 or 88% range that truly get frustrating. "Thanks for letting me know. We are happy with sats of 88% or higher on COVID patients. I would like to be notified if the sats are 86% or less and they stay there for a prolonged period of time. 

Of course, then I wonder if I ought to define "prolonged." So, if I think such is needed, I say, "If the sats stay 85% or lower for 10 or more minutes, let me know." 

I love educating. Often times we take time to explain to nurses or nurses assistance. After all, oxygenation is my job. Still, even the best of us get frustrated explaining the same thing ad nauseum. And this is especially true after spending most of the day with a critical patient in the critical care or ER. 

So, when you sit down, you actually want to rest. 

And just as your head hits the back of the chair. 

BEEP. 

And this time it's a doctor. She wants you to go to ER and set up a patient on a high-flow nasal cannula. And you begrudgingly trudge to the ER. And you don your PPE. And you enter the room to find that the sat is 95% on a non-rebreather. 

So, you leave the room. And you strip off your PPE. And you go to the doctor's room. And you find the doctor. And you attempt to, in a nice way, explain that you only have one high-flow nasal cannula left in the whole wide hospital. We would prefer not to use them up in the ER. And the patient is stating just fine on the non-rebreather. And we could use the high flow if needed, but if the patient is stating fine in an NRB we'd like to leave them on it." 

"But I just want the high flow on the patient." 

Now, here is where it gets interesting. If I am fresh, I am fully capable of taking the doctor into doing things my way. But, burned out I might just give in and do what she wants. Also, if I am on the night shift, and am exhausted that way, I might give in too. 

But, then you have a patient on the floor who truly needs the high flow, you don't have it. 

So, these are the types of things that cause that deep down burnout. It's part of the job, I suppose. Although, it's really not necessary.