Lisa Hammett Success Coach

Why Are Nurses Leaving Healthcare?

The staffing crisis isn't just about recruiting more nurses. It's about understanding why so many talented healthcare professionals are choosing to leave.

Top reasons include:

🔹 Burnout and chronic stress
🔹 Compassion fatigue
🔹 Lack of leadership support
🔹 Work-life imbalance
🔹 Moral distress

The good news? These challenges can be addressed.

Healthcare organizations can improve retention by:

✔ Supporting healthy staffing levels
✔ Training leaders to recognize burnout early
✔ Creating psychologically safe workplaces
✔ Investing in resilience and mental fitness programs
✔ Encouraging open conversations about wellbeing

Nurses entered healthcare to help others. Creating healthier work environments helps them continue doing what they do best—caring for patients while also caring for themselves.

What do you think is the biggest factor driving nurses away from the profession?

"How can I support a burned-out employee?"

As HR and healthcare leaders, one of the most important things we can do is recognize burnout before it becomes a crisis.

Burnout isn't just being tired.

It often looks like:

🔹 Emotional exhaustion
🔹 Increased irritability
🔹 Reduced motivation
🔹 Difficulty concentrating
🔹 Withdrawal from coworkers
🔹 Feeling overwhelmed by everyday tasks

Rather than assuming what someone needs, start a conversation.

Ask:
💬 What feels most challenging right now?
💬 What support would help?
💬 What can we remove, simplify, or prioritize?

Then look at the bigger picture.

Is the workload sustainable?
Are expectations realistic?
Do employees feel safe asking for help?

Burnout recovery isn't just about self-care. It's also about creating a workplace where people can thrive, not just survive.

What strategies have helped you support employees experiencing burnout?

Healthcare and HR leaders often assume they're "just stressed."

But here's the difference:

👉 Stress feels like too much.

👉 Burnout feels like not enough.

Stress can leave you overwhelmed, but you still have hope things will improve.

Burnout leaves you emotionally exhausted, detached, and running on empty.

Signs of burnout may include:

✔️ Waking up exhausted
✔️ Increased irritability or cynicism
✔️ Compassion fatigue
✔️ Difficulty concentrating
✔️ Feeling disconnected from your work
✔️ Loss of motivation or purpose
✔️ Chronic fatigue that doesn't improve with rest

The most concerning part?

Many leaders become so accustomed to functioning in survival mode that burnout starts to feel normal.

It isn't.

Building self-awareness is one of the most powerful ways to recognize the warning signs early and begin making changes before burnout impacts your health, relationships, and leadership effectiveness.

What sign tells you it's time to slow down and pay attention?

Many healthcare leaders are exhausted—and for good reason.

They're leading through staffing shortages, increasing patient demands, financial pressures, regulatory requirements, and constant change.

They're supporting employees, clinicians, patients, families, and executives while often neglecting their own wellbeing.

The emotional toll is real.

Burnout isn't simply about working long hours. It's the result of carrying sustained stress for too long without enough recovery, support, and healthy coping strategies.

If any part of this post resonates with you, please know that burnout doesn't have to be the end of the story.

The leaders I see thrive over time are the ones who intentionally invest in building resilience, self-awareness, and mental fitness. These skills help them navigate challenges while protecting their health, relationships, and sense of purpose.

If you'd like to learn more about practical strategies that can help, I'm always happy to connect and share resources.

Healthcare leaders, HR directors, nurse managers, and frontline clinicians see the same pattern: healthcare workers’ mental health gets squeezed between patient needs, staffing gaps, and constant urgency.

The challenges of clinical stress don’t stay at work; they show up as irritability, numbness, sleep problems, and the slow slide into burnout in healthcare. Even well-run units can turn toxic when healthcare workplace stress becomes the default setting and support is only reactive.

The goal is simple: build reliable mental health coping strategies that hold up on the hardest shift days.

Check out my latest blog post to learn more:
https://lisahammett.com/easy-ways-healthcare-leaders-can-boost-mental-health-beat-burnout/

I woke up one morning and the world looked gray, devoid of color. At that moment I knew I’d hit rock bottom.

That was me, back in 2005, after a 26-year career in the corporate retail sector.

I spent decades ignoring the warning signs of burnout.

👉 Weight gain
👉 Chronic headaches
👉 Digestive issues
👉 Irritability
👉 Sleeplessness
👉 Debilitating stress
👉 Tension with my spouse
👉 Depression

I worked for an organization that rewarded productivity over wellbeing.

70-80 hour work weeks had become the norm.

I pushed through because of a high salary and decent benefits.

Meanwhile, my mental and physical health deteriorated.

My relationship with my husband was compromised.
I was miserable.

So, in a moment of desperation, I left a long-term career without an exit strategy, which resulted in bankruptcy down the road.

Is this relatable?

On Thursday, June 4th, I will be having a candid, LIVE conversation with strength and confidence coach, Skye Van Heyzen. We’ll be discussing what burnout really is and why it doesn’t always announce itself.

This will be the first of a FREE three part series: High Performing. Quietly Exhausted.

6/4/26 – Get honest about burnout
6/11/26 – Hidden costs of burnout
6/18/26 – How to take the reins back

1:00 – 1:30pm CST | 7:00 – 7:30pm UK

The link to register is in the comments.

Healthcare & HR leaders:

Our bodies can remain in fight-or-flight mode from constant pressure, emotional exhaustion, staffing shortages, crisis management, and overwhelming workloads.

Chronic stress impacts:
• Focus
• Communication
• Sleep
• Emotional regulation
• Decision-making

Mental fitness can help.

Try:
✔ Letting go of what you can’t control
✔ Focusing on the lesson, not just the problem
✔ Using micro-meditations throughout the day:

• Focus on sounds around you
• Feel the sensation of washing your hands
• Rub two fingertips together
• Pause and breathe deeply
• Slowly notice the taste of your coffee or tea

Small moments of mindfulness help calm the nervous system and build resilience.

You were never meant to lead in survival mode.

You’re not failing as a leader because you’re exhausted.

Many healthcare and HR leaders are operating under relentless pressure while trying to support everyone else. Burnout is not a personal weakness. Often, it’s the result of chronic stress, unrealistic expectations, and unsustainable workplace cultures.

That’s why I created the Burnout to Best Life Next-Chapter Leadership Reset.

This small-group cohort helps leaders:
✨ Reduce stress and overwhelm
✨ Rebuild energy and confidence
✨ Set healthy boundaries
✨ Navigate challenges from a mentally fit perspective
✨ Reconnect with purpose without sacrificing professional success

One participant shared:

“As an HR executive, I particularly appreciated how she reframes burnout not as a personal weakness, but as a systematic and cultural issue that organizations must take seriously…”

If you’re ready for your next chapter, I’d love to support you.

Our next cohort begins June 1st.

Only four seats left.

Link to register: lisahammett.com/leadership-reset/

For many healthcare and HR leaders, burnout not only generates exhaustion, it creates tunnel vision.

When we’re constantly managing staffing shortages, employee crises, patient care concerns, compliance issues, restructures, back-to-back meetings, or emotional fatigue, it becomes easy to focus on what has not been accomplished.

We can forget how much we’ve carried, navigated, and the number of team members we’ve supported.

A practice I often recommend to leaders experiencing stress and overwhelm, is to take the time to reflect on accomplishments.

Not just the polished, résumé-worthy achievements. Everything.

It may look like a brain dump versus a carefully crafted list. The goal isn’t perfection, it’s creating awareness.

Write down both professional and personal accomplishments from the past several months, regardless of size.

It may look like…
• Supported the team through layoffs or organizational change
• Helped resolve conflict within the department
• Improved communication with staff
• Set healthier boundaries
• Navigated compassion fatigue without giving up
• Remained employed during uncertainty
• Completely checked out on vacation – no emails, texts, or conference calls
• Prioritized mental and physical health
• Started therapy or coaching
• Had difficult conversations without avoiding them
• Became more present with family
• Completed a certification or degree
• Survived a debilitating season

When leaders pause long enough to acknowledge what they’ve accomplished, the focus moves away from “I’m not doing enough” toward recognizing resilience, growth, progress, and capacity.

Reflection can reduce stress and overwhelm, restore perspective, and create motivation to move forward with more clarity and self-compassion.

Healthcare and HR leaders spend so much time supporting everyone else that they rarely stop to recognize themselves.

It’s time to change that.

What’s one personal or professional accomplishment you’re proud of this year? Let’s celebrate progress together.

Burnout in healthcare and HR leadership is often hidden beneath shame that leaders place on themselves.

“I should be stronger.”
“I can’t let anyone know I’m overwhelmed.”
“Why can’t I keep up anymore?”

Over time, that internal pressure shows up as:

• Emotional detachment
• Irritability
• Brain fog
• Procrastination
• Loss of motivation
• Feeling disconnected from yourself

Many leaders continue performing while silently struggling.

But self-awareness creates change.

When we stop judging ourselves and begin recognizing burnout warning signs with honesty and compassion, we can finally begin to recover before reaching a breaking point.

The strongest leaders are not the ones who never struggle.

They are the ones willing to acknowledge when something needs to change.

What warning sign do you think leaders dismiss most often?