Written by: PRECIOUS SYLVANUS

Aim

To shed light on the often-overlooked issue of burnout among medical laboratory scientists (MLS) and how it can be mitigated.

Given

Burnout, Medical Laboratory Scientists (MLS), Stress, Mental Health, Work-Life Balance, Supportive Environment

Method

Expository article

Principle

For months, Faith prayed, fasted, and hoped against hope for the one thing that stood in her way of professional progress as a Medical Laboratory Scientist — internship placement. Soon enough she got a place and while to her mother it was a case of "What God cannot do doesn’t exist”, it was slowly beginning to feel like a blessing and a curse. As Faith fiddled with the keypads of her mobile phone, she poured out her frustration to her friend via their WhatsApp chat. “Should I say God should not have answered?” She typed.

Faith’s reality took its first toll as she started to feel like a heavy chain was hanging down her neck just a few months in. “I come home each day feeling so tired that all I want to do is sleep. At the moment, I'm struggling with keeping up with my critical deadlines, not only because I barely have the time for them but because I'm so tired that I cannot fully engage”, she wrote.

Faith’s was another story in the lineup of burnt-out Medical Laboratory Scientists.

Recently, burnout has repeatedly made the list as one of the major factors influencing health status, especially among workers.

Burnout is a simple yet complex term used to describe a widespread spectrum of symptoms that many experience in diverse ways and at different moments. For Faith, who had often heard burnouts described previously, she had

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