Physical Therapy Burnout

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Have you ever just felt that your job is draining the life out? Do you just dread going to work in the morning? Many people experience burnout, which is mental or physical energy depletion after a period of chronic, unrelieved job-related stress (Elsevier, 2009). Physical therapists are just one of the victims out of numerous that experience burnouts. Given that health coverage has changed physical therapists (PT) are more likely to face burnout because of job stress resulting from overwork and not caring for their own well-being.
Everyone on the planet able to has to work so many hours a week and get a certain amount of things done in a day. A physical therapist has to work at least forty hours a week and will see ten to twelve patients …show more content…

A PT goes through such a feeling. “Usually a PT enters into a relationship with a patient expecting to alleviate some problem; most patients have similar expectations. When these expectations are not fulfilled, the therapist may feel a sense of failure and frustration. As a result, feelings or failure, frustration, and a negative self-image increase, and symptoms of burnout become evident. It must also be remembered, however, that even when great progress is made, many patients are left with some residual limitation. If the therapist has unconsciously internalized the patient’s desire to become totally normal, feeling of failure can still be engendered even in the face of clinical “success”. (Wolfe, 1981) Wolfe also says that in order to set sensible goals, therapists must acknowledge of the fact that all patients do not get well. Simply, when a patient does not improve the therapist will reflect how the patient feels and potentially have a …show more content…

Yes, it can be avoided. There are many ways that you can put off a burnout from happening some are learn how to manage stress, try not to take work home, get therapy, etc. But one of the main strategies is taking “time-outs” from stressful situations. “Time-outs are periods of time in which the individual is able to remove him or herself from interaction with patients and work on something else, such as paperwork, educational materials, or research. This time should be in addition to regularly scheduled breaks or vacations. During these periods, which ideally should be individualized but which might be regularly scheduled for all staff, the therapist’s patients should be cared for by other staff.” (Wolfe, 1981) This is called load sharing, which is distributing the workload between two or more people. Wolfe stated that this type of time-out would not work because it interrupts patient care and inflicts guilt upon the therapist taking

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