Stress Of Stress In Nursing

The nursing profession can be a physically and emotionally challenging job on a daily basis for nurses. It can have an impact on nurse’s mental health, through workplace factors that contribute to stress. Stress is a response that affects people differently and can be a physical, social, economic, or any other factor that requires a specific response to a challenging situation (Harris, Nagy & Vardaxis, 2014, pp. 1638). Within the workplace there are many factors that can cause work related stress that can influence and impact on the mental health of a nurse, however there are also many mental health promotion strategies that can be implemented to improve and build a nurses self-resilience. For the purpose of the assignment, workplace factors that can have an impact on nurses mental health include high workload and exposure to death and dying, these topics will be discussed, as well as two evidence-based strategies of mindfulness and reflective practices or thinking, which nurses can implement to build self-resilience will also be discussed. Stress is a response to challenging situations, people can encounter it in many different parts of their life, including in the workplace.

Compassion fatigue is widely known in the health care profession. Nurses working overtime and long working days to provide care for the patient and the patient’s families are a continuous stress on a nurse’s emotional and physical well-being especially if the nurse is providing the patient with end of life care as this contributes to both physical and mental work. Vital

The profession of nursing is usually described as high-demand job, as well as stressful. The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses believes that nurses can empower their work environments and truly make a difference (AACN, 2016). Although nurses have the ability to join committees and help make changes slowly, there are many factors in the nursing that cannot be changed by nurses. “The global increase in the aged population, the intensity of health care problems, the incidence of chronic illnesses and advanced technology, nurses are faced with a variety of work-related stressors” (Lambert & Lambert, 2008, p. 38). Regardless of nursing communication and social aspects of units, nurses need to accept some stressors as they are and

The nursing profession is a challenge. As a nurse, you must remember every day that you can both alleviate suffering patients by administering treatment prescribed by a doctor and by a good word and a smile. For a good nurse should not matter how hard the day was, how much trouble it encountered, but must remember the core values of the profession and why he/she chose this profession. Nurses play an important role in the healthcare system. This is why they have been correctly referred to as the heart

Similar to physical exhaustion, emotional exhaustion results from depletion of emotional resources and failure to restore one’s own emotional equilibrium. (Moore, 2009, p. 1) In today’s busy society the demands of life, job and family can be excessive and overwhelming. Combine these demands with the additional stressors of caring for another person or persons, increased demands of productivity with decreased personnel and the unrealistic expectations of one’s self or others and place all of this burden on one person, this would adequately describe the 21st century nurse. Nurses are continually engaged in emotional relationships with patients and their families which call upon the nurse to be in a constant supporting role. One reaches emotional exhaustion when this burden becomes too heavy to carry

Additionally, the study found that a high patient to nurse ratio resulted in greater emotional exhaustion and greater job dissatisfaction amongst nurses. Each additional patient per nurse was associated with a 23% increase in the likelihood of nurse burnout, and a 15% increase in the likelihood of job dissatisfaction. Moreover, 40% of hospital nurses have burnout levels exceeding the normal level for healthcare workers, and job dissatisfaction among hospital nurses is four times greater than the average for all US workers. 43% of nurses involved in this study that reported job dissatisfaction intended to leave their job within the upcoming year. (Aiken et al.)

Nurses may play different roles in the field, but their responsibilities are all very similar. Nurses must be confident in everything they do and be patient with people. They should have strong listening

General Qualifications for becoming a nurse, according to Regina Ranburn, include: “Compassion, caring for others, selflessness, love for humanity, and desire to help others” (1). These qualities are vital to a career in nursing because most fields require direct patient care. Dealing with patients one-on-one every day

Nurses, always involved in patient care, sometimes experience detrimental effects with prolonged stress or “burnout” during their career throughout the years. Burnout is defined as an extended response to physical or emotional stressors. Some examples of these stressors are; memories of witnessing death, patient and family suffering, emotional stress of losing patients, feeling emotionally and physically drained, or emotional disconnect from staff which can all contribute to burnout. As a result, nurses can experience; exhaustion, anxiety, dissatisfaction and low capacity. Overall, burnout can have negative effects not just on the emotional and physical health of nurses but also on; patient satisfaction, outcomes and mortality of nurses and patients. Although, there are ways to reduce or prevent these negative effects of burnout from manifesting. For example, nurses can apply interventions to reduce these risks including; staff support, onsite counselors and psychiatrists for nurses and salary increases and reimbursement opportunities for nurses through clinical ladder programs. Nurses can also start by just saying no to certain requests, being aware of their tolerance level, by taking care of themselves and having fun outside of work. On the other hand, others do not think nursing burnout is fatal and nurses just need a break from their job to initiate change. Although, the issue of burnout is prevalent in nurse’s careers which need to be addressed more in society in

There are numerous elements that contribute to stress in the healthcare setting. Nurses’ days are full of physical, mental and emotional demands. There are societal demands and workplace demands created by the shortage. These stressors can become increasingly overwhelming and if there is no stress relief, job performance can and will be hindered. When fatigue and stress combine there is potential for “performance decrements”. This can include diminished capacity to manage a specific level of workload resulting in errors in the delivery of nursing care. This can produce damaging effects on the safety and advantageous outcomes for both the nurses and patients. (Reese, 2011). Therefore, finding a balance between lowering stress levels of

Nurses are especially vulnerable to several related effects of stress, such as burnout, job dissatisfaction, increased interpersonal problems, increased health complaints, disturbances in sleep patterns, as well as clinical depression and anxiety (Villani, Grassi, Cognetta, Toniolo, Cipresso, & Riva, 2013). The potential for stress can be reduced by resolving difficulties in the workplace promptly, addressing staff shortages, turnover and absenteeism, and developing clear objectives and plans (McIntosh, & Sheppy, 2013). Learning to manage and reduce stress by developing insight and coping strategies will help to maintain and promote nursing integrity and consistent patient care (McIntosh, & Sheppy, 2013).

Stressful events are a ubiquitous part of modern life with unfortunate negative implications for both physical and mental health. For example, stressful events (especially longer-term chronic events) negatively impact immune functioning (Segerstrom & Miller, 2004) and cardiovascular health, accounting for as much as 30% of attributable risk of heart attack (Das & O’Keefe, 2006). Negative life events are also implicated in experiences of depression (e.g., Hammen, 2005), with up to 80% of depressive episodes in community samples preceded by stressful life events (Mazure, 1998). Life events are associated with the onset of depression (Kendler, Karkowski, & Prescott, 1999), response to treatment (Monroe, Roberts, Kupfer, & Frank, 1996), and relapse (Monroe, Torres, Guillaumot, Harkness, Roberts, Frank, et

The relevant issue I chose for this posting related to nurse’s burnout due to work related stress. In my work place I noted few nurses who are retiring earlier than planned and some who want to leave nursing due to high levels of stress. The other day a colleague of mine started to cry when I inquired how she was doing because she was overwhelmed with work and could not get out of work on time to be with her family. Nurses are asked to do more with no assistance or limited assistance. Stress can lead to physical and psychological health problems such as anxiety, depression, fatigue, insomnia, and lack of concentration. Furthermore, emotional exhaustion, reduced personal accomplishment and depersonalization, or lack of empathy with patients

Stress is something everyone goes through no matter what age, gender or race you are. Stress is the experience of a perceived threat to one’s mental, physical or spiritual well-being, resulting from a series of physiological responses and adaptations. When people think of stress they think it’s a bad thing which isn’t true, some stress is just your body’s reaction to certain situations. At times it may seem like stress is taking over your body leaving you physically, emotionally and mentally hurt but what you can do is learn how to manage your stress to have a healthier and happy lifestyle. Stress management is learning to deal with your stress and take charge. There are three types of stresses which are eustress, distress and neustress.

The nursing field is an occupation that is naturally subject to a high degree of stress because professionals in this field deal with grief, suffering, and death cases. The vulnerability to stress in the nursing occupation is also fueled by the fact that several nursing tasks tend to be mundane and unrewarding. In normal standards, nursing tasks range from being distasteful to degrading, disgusting, and frightening. Generally, many visits by patients to health care services are usually brought by stress-related illnesses to an extent that 90 percent of these visits are associated to stress. Therefore, stress is part of nearly every person's existence since it's linked to the development of mental disorders, enhanced stress-related diseases, and minimized immunologic function.