We’ve seen it locally, across the state and nationally, too, nurses by the score telling us they feel increasingly burned out.

In fact, researchers at the University of Michigan found that almost 94% of those nurses surveyed reported feeling “significant exhaustion” in relation to their jobs.

“Deficits in registered nurses’ well-being constitute a public health emergency and warrant a comprehensive, multilevel response,” said the study which was based on responses from 13,687 nurses.

And if that’s not enough, there was this: Nearly 10% of those who responded said they had experienced thoughts of self-harm.

The reasons that nurses’ mental health is at risk due is obvious: heavy workloads, poor working conditions and long hours, the study said.

Certainly the COVID-19 pandemic played a role in all of this. But at least one expert affiliated with the study disputes that’s the only reason.

“Our work has shown that nurses have been dissatisfied with their working conditions for about a decade before this,” he said. “COVID made things much worse, but it’s not the root cause of this burnout problem we’re facing.”

Another reported cause is the increasingly uncooperative and sometimes violent behavior on the part of some patients.

Friese said the prime issue is the culture surrounding nursing.

“It’s part of the culture to put your personal stuff aside to care for the patient in front of you, and, obviously, a professional needs to do that,” he said. “But we’re also saying, ‘Make sure nurses take time to take care of themselves as well.’

“It’s the old airplane analogy: You have to put your own mask on first before you help somebody else.”

This study, which appeared in the American Journal of Public Health, should serve as a clarion call to anyone who employees nurses.

For many, nursing is not an easy way to make a living. All of us should be cognizant of that.

— The Mining Journal, Marquette