Due to the nature of their work, healthcare professionals are regularly exposed to events and situations that can range from highly stressful to traumatic. Seeing patients in life-or-death situations in the emergency room, being regularly exposed to patients suffering from terminal illness, and experiencing threats and intimidation from patients can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Over time, repeated exposure to these experiences can affect a nurse’s mental health, especially their emotional well-being, sense of safety, and ability to cope. Recognizing the early warning signs is an important step toward getting support and protecting both mental health and job performance.

This article provides helpful information on what PTSD is, how it differs from burnout, and how to recognize PTSD in yourself as a nurse.

PTSD vs. Burnout: How to Tell the Difference as a Nurse

PTSD and burnout syndrome are, unfortunately, quite common in healthcare workers and can heavily impact their mental health and productivity. In fact, a 2010 study found that nurses who had PTSD will almost uniformly have BOS symptoms, too. It’s important to differentiate what PTSD is from burnout to better understand the root of the symptoms and get the appropriate support to cope with it.

PTSD vs. burnout in nurses: How to tell the difference:

PTSD

People who experience or witness physically or emotionally traumatic events can develop a psychiatric condition called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Common examples of traumatic events that can lead to PTSD include experiencing physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, terrorist acts, war exposure, and medical illness.

Although not everyone who experiences traumatic events in their lives develops PTSD, many people do. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 3.9% of the world population has experienced PTSD at one point in their lives.

For individuals to be diagnosed with PTSD,  they must exhibit symptoms that last for more than a month. These symptoms are so grave and distressing that they prohibit people suffering from PTSD from performing their day-to-day activities. Some of the most common PTSD symptoms include individuals feeling like they’re repeatedly re-experiencing the traumatic event (as well as the negative emotions associated with it), avoiding talking about things that remind them of traumatic events, and experiencing hyperarousal, or having a heightened sense of danger.

For healthcare workers, PTSD often comes from work-related traumatic events. A 2020 study found that four factors affect PTSD in nurses:

• The workplace matters: Nurses who don’t get enough support from colleagues and higher-ups after experiencing a traumatic event are more likely to experience PTSD and work-related fatigue.
• Relationships matter: Nurses feel the heavy burden of professional and personal obligations that can be psychologically overwhelming. The global pandemic put healthcare workers around the world through life-threatening situations, long work hours, quarantining, and extreme understaffing. It gave them grave fears of contracting and transmitting COVID-19 to their loved ones, causing deep psychological distress.
• It hurts to care: Nursing comes with an emotional toll. Nurses can experience trauma from repeated exposure to patient suffering, death, futile care, and moral distress. When nurses care for patients, they stand witness to the pain and suffering these patients endure due to their illness, which can compound the emotional suffering nurses feel.
• Interpersonal strengths: Nurses with a good grasp of resilience, optimism, adaptive coping strategies, and emotional regulation skills have a reduced risk of developing PTSD in the workplace.

Burnout

Burnout occurs when someone experiences chronic workplace stress and is unable to cope with it or successfully manage it. Someone who has burnout syndrome typically feels exhausted or experiences a depletion of energy, is cynical or feels negatively about their job, and has reduced productivity and efficiency at work.

Nurses are prone to experiencing burnout due to the physically and emotionally challenging nature of their work and their long work hours, which can negatively affect their overall health and their ability to care for their patients. According to the 2026 Nurse Salary and Work-Life Report, 53% of nurses experienced burnout symptoms in the past two years.

A Quick Self-Screening Checklist for Nurses

If you have been feeling overwhelmed or unsettled after difficult experiences at work, a simple self-check can help you reflect on what you may be experiencing. Here’s a nurse PTSD self-screening tool to help you determine if you should consider speaking with a mental health professional after experiencing or witnessing traumatic events at work:

• You have recurrent intrusive memories of traumatic events
• You have recurrent nightmares about traumatic events
• You experience flashbacks or re-experience the traumatic event weeks/months after the event has passed
• Your heart races, you sweat profusely, or you have other physical reactions when you’re reminded of traumatic events
• You avoid thinking of or having conversations about traumatic events
• You avoid taking assignments that remind you of traumatic events
• You avoid places, tasks, or cases that remind you of traumatic events
• You don’t remember key parts of the traumatic event
• You experience persistent negativity about yourself, your skills, and your job
• You experience persistent negative emotions (fear, anger, self-doubt, shame, guilt, detachment) and have a hard time experiencing positive ones (excitement or joy)
• You feel alienated from and have difficulty communicating with your colleagues, friends, and loved ones
• You are easily irritated and angry
• You become reckless and self-destructive
• You have a heightened sense of danger
• You feel on edge and startle easily
• You have difficulty sleeping and eating well
• You have difficulty focusing and being organized at work
• You miss work tasks and have increased work errors
• You experience feeling numb
• You experience anxiety or panic attack symptoms
• You constantly think about changing professions or quitting your job

If you are experiencing one or more of these symptoms, please do not hesitate to consult with a mental health professional. It’s important to take care of your own mental health so that you can care for your patients sustainably, effectively, and compassionately.