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The use of the term “burnout” is 10 years old; however, the problem has been present for decades. During the 1970s, the nursing profession began to delineate areas for specialty practice. These areas were developed around particular problems such as burns and trauma, renal or cardiovascular body system dysfunction, and most recently, neonatology and oncology. Burnout is especially common in these highly technical, highly emotional areas. Causes as well as solutions to burnout have been explored and numerous articles have been written on the subject. This article describes the concept of burnout and discusses the origin of the term, causes, high-risk factors, signs and symptoms, preventive, and therapeutic actions. How burnout relates to the field of cancer nursing is also discussed.
Ann McElroy (1982) studied this question.