Burnout in Healthcare Leadership: Why Overwork Should Never Be the Standard
Healthcare burnout is surging, especially among nurses and leaders. Here's why applauding overwork is dangerous—and what smart, strategic leaders should do instead.
Healthcare burnout is not a buzzword, it’s a breaking point. And far too many nurses, physicians, and healthcare leaders are sprinting straight toward it, or already neck deep.
I’ve spoken to hundreds of healthcare professionals, and I’ve heard too many stories like these:
“I worked 24 hours straight—into the weekend.”
“I’ve been on call for 25 years.”
“My boss called me in while I was on medical leave.”
“My family barely sees me. Even when I’m home, I’m still on the phone with work.”
These stories make me angry—not at the people telling them—but at the systems and senior leaders that allow this to happen.
Who’s Burning Out? Everyone.
Some of you reading this are the ones putting in those hours.
Others are leading the people who are.
Either way, it’s time for a reckoning in healthcare leadership.
I burned out as a healthcare leader because I believed I had to give everything. During a season when I had little to no leader support, it nearly broke me. That experience changed me—and now, it drives my work as a speaker and burnout prevention coach.
Recently, I asked a client a simple but revealing question:
“What did your leader say when you told them about your extreme hours and exhaustion?”
The answer? Not much.
Why Overwork Happens
Let’s be honest—people overwork in healthcare because:
They care deeply about patients, their teams, and outcomes.
They’ve built unhealthy habits, and now 60-hour weeks and being “on” all the time feels normal.
They’re led by people who have never been taught how to protect them.
When leaders ignore these warning signs, they don’t just lose good people—they contribute to a broken culture.
Don’t Applaud Burnout. Intervene.
If someone on your team is always “on,” always sacrificing, always fading—don’t applaud it.
Intervene.
Help them set humane boundaries.
Remind them of their value beyond productivity.
Protect their time off. Give them a life.
Does that make you a “soft” leader?
No—it makes you strategic.
As my coauthor, Dr. Erin Alexander, writes in our book Let’s Talk About Healthcare Burnout, when people feel safe and supported, their commitment doesn’t fade—it deepens.
Pressuring people to give everything to work is short-sighted at best, maniacal at worst.
What Kind of Leader Are You?
If a leader who reports to you is burning out, what do you do?
Do you step in, or do you stay silent, watching them waste away?
Healthcare leaders have the power to shift the tide of burnout, but only if we stop ignoring it and start talking about it.
If your organization is serious about preventing burnout in healthcare, I’d love to help.
Let’s talk about what it could look like to support your team without losing your people.
