What Can a Caregiver Do When She/He Is Tired of Being a Health Care Provider and Needs to Rest?

What is burnout for health care providers?

Burnout of health care providers is a state of physical, emotional and mental burnout. Health care providers who are under stress may experience fatigue, anxiety, and depression. Some ways to prevent burnout in this job are to join caregiver support groups and use their care services.

Exhaustion of health care providers is more likely to occur when caregivers try to work beyond their means, physically or financially.

Many caregivers also feel guilty if they spend their time and not for their sick or elderly loved ones.

What causes health care providers to burn out?

Caregivers are often so preoccupied with caring for others that they neglect their emotional, physical, and spiritual health. Health care providers often ignore the desires of their body, mind, and emotions, leading to fatigue, frustration, and eventually burnout.

Other factors that can lead to burnout in health care providers include:

• Role confusion: Many people get confused when they take on the role of caregiver. These people can hardly separate their role as caregivers from their role as spouse, lover, child, friend or other close relationship.
• Discouragement in health care providers: Many health care providers expect that their care will have a positive effect on the patient's health and happiness. But for patients suffering from a progressive disease such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's, it does not matter much, and this discourages health care providers from doing what they are doing. They plan to take care of their loved ones.
• Unreasonable demands: Some caregivers place unreasonable burdens on themselves because they only consider themselves responsible for caring for their loved one, but sometimes the caregivers may have unreasonable demands on their caregiver. Put the burden on him as the main caretaker.

The symptoms of burnout in health care providers are similar to the symptoms of stress and depression, which include:

• Isolation and withdrawal from friends, family and other loved ones.
• Lack of interest in activities they used to enjoy.
• Irritability, Feeling angry, frustrated and helpless.
• Increased or decreased appetite and weight
• Changes in sleep patterns.
• Anxiety, boredom and confusion
• Consecutive illnesses
• Feeling the urge to hurt yourself or someone you care about.
• Emotional and physical fatigue.

Here are some things health care providers can do to help prevent burnout:

• Talk to someone you trust - like a friend, colleague or neighbor - about your feelings and frustrations.
• Look at the issue of caring for a loved one realistically, acknowledge that you may need help caring for the elderly. Suffer from cancer or Alzheimer's. These organizations may also temporarily send caregivers to the site to allow the primary caregiver to spend some time away from the patient.
• Be realistic about your loved one's disease, especially if it is a progressive disease such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's. Acknowledge that there may come a time when the patient needs nursing services outside the home and away from you.
• Make time for yourself at least 1 to 2 hours a day Self-care is an absolute necessity for health care providers

Finally, do not forget that in today's age of advanced technology, many companies, including TangelaCare, are by your side with specialized and efficient staff by designing and providing professional care-giving applications to help you as caregivers manage your responsibilities and make life easy and comfortable for your loved elderlies.