"The chaos is still there, but [the nurse leaders] feel like it's controlled chaos. We're going to have chaos for a while … and the value is in de-escalating the chaos to control what you can, so that you can better manage the things you cannot." — Claire Zangerle, DNP, MSN, MBA, RN, FAONL, NEA-BC, chief nurse executive, Allegheny Health Network By January 2021, about 70% of nurses reported they felt burned out because of long work hours, greater workloads, and caring for significantly ill patients. Then came the second half of 2021, where hospitals and health systems battled a tsunami of patients whose respiratory systems were attacked by the highly contagious and deadly delta variant. There's no telling where the burnout rate currently stands. Through it all, nurse leaders have been looking out for their nurses and providing ways to ease the overwhelming hardship wrought by the pandemic. For this week's lead story, I spoke with nurse leaders about three ways they've chosen to combat nurse burnout and how they've been successful. | 