Managing burnout: A CRNA’s experience with work-life balance

Stacey was going through something most nurses experience at times: burnout.

She was finding it difficult to work and navigate life outside of nursing. Where she worked at the time, the staffing was bare bones. She had to cover multiple sites, and she was starting to get run down. Something needed to change.

Stacey had also been working as a casual at AHN Jefferson Hospital, and when leaders approached her with the opportunity to join the hospital full-time, she decided to go for it.

"From the beginning, they cared about my life outside of work," Stacey said.

By working at Jefferson Hospital, she could be home to get her kids off the bus.

For Stacy, "scheduling is huge."

"They are very well aware they are staffing a unit and this is a business and we are here to take care of patients," Stacey said, "but they take it very personally to try and make our schedules the best they can make them for us."

Jefferson's ability to provide Stacey with a schedule that supported her work-life balance really showed up when she had a family emergency and was able to get the time off she needed.

"I felt like I could stay home with them a day without ruining things here," Stacey said. She also knows she is going to get the time off she needs for things like vacation or events for her kids.

"It is easy to request off," she said, "and they just seemed to care about that."

Another way AHN Jefferson supports Stacey's life outside of work is to make sure she gets to leave on time.

"They are very conscientious about when you leave," Stacey said. "I know I'm going get home in a timely fashion. That's big for people who have younger kids at home."

Stacey was looking for a company that cared as much about her life at home as they did about her work when she came to AHN, and she found it. She's able to come to the hospital, work hard, and go home at the end of the day to her family.

"That was – and still is – a giant part of why I am happy here," Stacey added.