Q&A: Defining burnout in CDI

Q: What is burnout, and how might it present itself?

Tonya Skeen, MSN, RN, CCDS, CDIP: Professional burnout is a state of exhaustion typically caused by prolonged and excessive work-related stress. Burnout can be directly related to the demands and workload and inversely related to the extent of resources at the worker’s disposal.

In other words, high demands with low resources can lead to burnout.

It can present itself with behaviors such as disconnection from patients or physicians. An example in CDI might be if those who review mortality cases become calloused or cynical toward death and dying.

Kristin Clopton, BSN, RN, CCDS: When it comes to department growth and onboarding our new team members, many of these team members are in recovery from bedside burnout from their previous role. So, we have to overcome that.

Then, we have to realize the orientation to CDI involves a huge body of new information. They were previously experts in their field and now are considered newbies again in CDI.

This can require a lot of humility and therefore contribute to the feeling of burnout. So, you have to keep that in mind when onboarding new team members.

Editor’s note: Clopton and Skeen are associate directors at Banner Health in Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Nevada, and California. They answered this question on the January 14, 2026, episode of the ACDIS Podcast.