Editor's note: On this month's cover is Day Off, a digital art piece by medical student Brian R. Smith. "This work depicts an overworked, exhausted health care worker. On their day off they find peace and respite through a walk in the forest," he explains, noting that he found inspiration for the artwork in the most important part of his self-care routine: "finding joy and serenity in nature." See Art of Nursing for four more works by Smith, all of which address burnout within health care and nursing. In honor of National Nurses Week, we invited nursing leader Cynda Hylton Rushton to view the images and write an accompanying commentary on nurse burnout and resilience.
Being a nurse isn't easy. It never has been. Images of burnout and overwhelm are indelibly etched in our memory as we attempt to make sense of the residue of the COVID-19 pandemic and the patterns of health care and society that brought us here. It's easy to feel hopeless, despairing, angry, and grief-stricken. Our bodies, hearts, and minds are on fire from the intensity of consequences that have caused us to exceed our capacities to be whole and healthy.
Yet amid this carnage there are glimmers of hope and stunning examples of nurses' resilience, strength, and courage. Resilience isn't the opposite of burnout; it is the fuel that propels us forward when adversity arises. It invites us to meet the moment and to learn and grow in response to the challenges we face. Nurses are resilient-we wouldn't be in this profession if we weren't. But the last three years have challenged our boundaries and reserves in unfamiliar ways. We've had to confront our human limitations, assumptions, and values. And we've reconnected to the things that nurture us-the beauty of nature and the solitude we feel when we pause to notice it, prompting us to remember who we are and why we are here.
At times, we have had to dig deep to harness our purpose, identity, and moral compass. But under the rubble it is all still there, waiting to be rediscovered and honored. Nurses don't turn away from difficulty. We've learned how to lean in-to meet the next crisis with competence, skill, and compassion. We have been reminded again and again of the power of systems thinking and the whole-person perspective. We speak up for what we stand for and advocate for the people we serve, and work to dismantle systems that create inequity and harm. This requires that we play a skillful game of chess-contemplating the words, strategies, and trade-offs that may be needed to "do the right thing" despite resistance or challenges. This includes reimagining how nursing care is delivered, and the systems needed to enable nurses to practice with safety and integrity.
In this long tale of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is time for us to pause, to remember, and to create the future that reflects who we are now and how we want to serve.-Cynda Hylton Rushton, PhD, RN, FAAN, Anne and George L. Bunting Professor of Clinical Ethics, Berman Institute of Bioethics and School of Nursing, professor of nursing and pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD