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How stress can result in deteriorated workplace performance
The challenges of being a registered nurse
How stress can result in deteriorated workplace performance
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Professional Challenges in Nursing: Burnout Introduction Burnout is termed as the exhaustion of an individual’s overall well-being. To put it simply, it is experienced when there is too much stress, generally in the work environment. This leads to emotional, mental, and physical strain, making it difficult for one to perform his or her job proficiently (Ericksen, 2015). Adriaenssens (2015) indicates, that burnout impacts emotional aspect the most. In correlation with nursing, negative effects of this ordeal include poor patient outcomes, and compromised safety for both patient and nurse. Evidently, these are precipitating factors that contribute to the deterioration of the healthcare system stemming from the direct and indirect damage that …show more content…
The Australian Nursing Journal (2012) states that burnout was to blame for patients dying due to increased infections acquired in the urinary tract, through surgical sites, and so forth. It is said that the cognitive detachment one experiences as a result of burnout is to blame. In other words, while performing patient care, nurses are there physiologically, but not psychologically as though their minds are functioning on autopilot. This is not a safe practice due to higher probability of making an error or just being outright careless. Therefore, this is one of the most obvious, negative and concerning consequence of …show more content…
(2015) implies that the unit manager together with work environment, greatly influences the nurse’s overall job satisfaction, and has little to do with the stress of caring for patients. Furthermore, studies show that stronger relationships amongst management, staff, patients and families, allows for bonding between each component of the healthcare pyramid and makes the job more “enjoyable”, thereby reducing the emotional fatigue associated with burnout. Research also states that changes in organizational policies such as nurse to patient ratio, short staffing, etc., reduce this risk (Australian Nursing Journal,
A study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that “annually approximately 1.7 million hospitalized patients acquire infections while being treated for other medical conditions, and more than 98,000 of these patients will die as a result of their acquired infection” (Cimiotti et al., 2012, p. 486). It was suggested that nursing burnout has been linked to suboptimal patient care and patient dissatisfaction. Also, the study shows that if the percentage of nurses with high burnout could be reduced to 10% from an average of 30%, approximately five thousand infections would be prevented (Cimiotti et al., 2012). In summary, increasing nursing staffing and reduction burnout in RNs is a promising strategy to help control urinary and surgical infections in acute care facilities (Cimiotti et al.,
In recent years, there’s evidence to suggest that mental health nurses experience stress and burned out related to their work, Stress, as an result of stressful workplaces (Bernard et al,2000).
The issues of nursing burnout and compassion fatigue are an important one in part, because of the ongoing nursing shortage across the united states. Per the American colleges of nursing “the U.S. is projected to experience a shortage of Registered Nurses (RN’s) that is expected to intensify as Baby Boomers age and the need for health care grows” (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2017). The ACA fact sheet cites several reasons for this including; the increasing needs of an aging population, healthcare reform, decreased enrollment in nursing programs, shortages of nursing faculty, large portions of working nurses
I think it is important for nurses experiencing burnout to talk to someone about it and maybe think about making a change in their workplace if possible to obtain a new challenge and help keep nursing fresh and exciting for them. I also find it interesting that as nurses, we are so prone to caring for others that we often forget or neglect to care for ourselves. Not caring for us is stressful to the body and will lead to burnout at work and also in our personal lives.
Burnout in critical care nursing has been a longstanding, serious yet under recognized issue that has recently been magnified due to the nursing shortage. The key components of burnout include emotional exhaustion, depersonalization or detachment, and lack of personal accomplishment. These factors are closely interwoven and create a snowball effect which results in burnout. Emotional exhaustion stems from the stress placed on critical care nurses. Stress from patient acuity, heavy workload and responsibility, limited autonomy, ethical dilemmas, inadequate staffing ratios, and caring for patient’s families all contribute to emotional exhaustion (Epp, 2012, p. 26). In turn, emotional exhaustion triggers depersonalization which is a way for critical care nurses to cope. Finally, lack of personal accomplishment is achieved when the nurse cannot meet their inherent high standards and are unsupported by their colleagues and superiors (Epp, 2012, p. 28). To prevent and remedy burnout, Epp’s (2012) article suggests that nurse managers play an integral role by regulating staffing levels and encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration. In addition, they can foster a supportive work environment by participating in daily reports, establishing relationships with staff nurses to identify individual signs of stress, and instituting educational workshops. Critical care nurses are also encouraged to play an active role in combatting burnout by advocating for themselves and for their colleagues to institute personal measures such as rest, delegation, and stress management (Epp, 2012, p.
Bakker, Le Blanc and Schaufeli begin by explicitly defining burnout and the characteristics of burnout (277). The claim the authors make is that burnout among critical care nurses is due to contagion, i.e., communicated from one nurse to another, rather than reasons presented in previous studies of the subject. The authors present the previously stated reasons for critical care nurse burnout: excessive workload, high patient care demands, time constraints and intensive use of sophisticated technology. The authors’ warrant is explicitly stated by their presentation of statistical evidence obtained from a large study of nurse interviews. Bakker, Le Blan...
Burnout is a highly unusual type of stress disorder that is essentially characterized by emotional exhaustion, lack of empathy with patients, depersonalization, and a reduced sense of personal accomplishments. The nature of the work that healthcare practitioners perform predisposes them to emotional exhaustion. On the other hand, the lack of empathy towards patients is caused by the nurses feeling that they are underpaid and unappreciated. Numerous researches have associated burnout with the increasing rate of nurse turnover. This paper explores the causes of burnouts in nurses as well as what can be done to prevent the them.
One of the most serious issues in nursing, that can affect a nurses career is nursing burn- out. According to the article “Where have all the nurses gone”, current nurses that are practicing, report high rates of job dissatisfaction (which is part of burn out) and 1 of 5 nurses may quit nursing in the next 5 years (Dworkin, 2002). Burnout is associated with nurses not coming in to work, not feeling satisfied when doing their job, high turnover rates and a lack of commitment to the work (Katisfaraki, 2013). If a nurse becomes burned- out, they may not take care of their patients as well and could make mistakes with medication administration. A study performed in the United States by Dr. Jeannie Cimiottti, shows that hospitals with high burn-out rates among nurses have higher levels UTI’s, and surgical infections (World, 2012). Nursing burnout not only affects the nurse, but it also affects the patient, the nurses’ colleagues, and the nurses’ family; nursing burn out often leads to emotional exhaustion and depression, that can effect relations and communication between the nurse effected and the person they are communicating with. This paper will cover what burn-out is, who is susceptible to burn out, and treatment and prevent nursing burn out.
Patient’s safety will be compromised because increase of patient to nurse ratio will lead to mistakes in delivering quality care. In 2007, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) conducted a metanalysis and found that “shortage of registered nurses, in combination with increased workload, poses a potential threat to the quality of care… increases in registered nurse staffing was associated with a reduction in hospital-related mortality and failure to rescue as well as reduced length of stay.” Intense workload, stress, and dissatisfaction in one’s profession can lead to health problems. Researchers found that maintaining and improving a healthy work environment will facilitate safety, quality healthcare and promote a desirable professional avenue.
The nursing profession is one of the most physically, emotionally, and mentally taxing career fields. Working long shifts, placing other’s needs before your own, dealing with sickness and death on a regular basis, and working in a high stress environment are all precursors to developing occupational burnout in the nursing profession. Burnout refers to physical, emotional and mental exhaustion, which can lead to an emotionally detached nurse, who feels hopeless, apathetic, and unmotivated. Burnout extends beyond the affected nurse and begins to affect the care patients receive. Researchers have found that hospitals with high burnout rates have lower patient satisfaction scores (Aiken et al 2013). There are various measures that nurses can take
The nursing profession has often been dubbed as the backbone of the healthcare system because nurses are first in line when it comes to the patient’s medical care. Hence, nursing quality is one of the major factors that affects the well-being of the patient. Nurses and other healthcare professionals are expected to possess the characteristics of caring and empathy towards their patients. However, when there is too much care for patients and too little for one’s self, a negative effect to the overall health of the caregiver may develop. Additionally, nursing work is seen to be strenuous and challenging due to its need for specialization, complexity, and requirement to handle emergency situations (Benoliel et al., 1990; Su, 1993). Nurses, in effect, may feel overworked, underappreciated, frustrated and emotionally exhausted. These stressors that healthcare providers undergo are described by different terms including compassion fatigue, caregiver burnout and other related issues. In this paper, the nature of compassion fatigue and caregiver burnout are first defined and discussed. The symptoms as well as the coping strategies for these phenomena are then explained.
The purpose of this study is to help find a cure to burn out. The word cure is used here because it is an illness. Burnout like many other illness out there has symptoms, as mentioned earlier burnout can cause many issues like physiological problems, sleep disorder and overall feeling of fatigue. Finding a way to end this affliction is key to everyone in the social work field and the ones affected by social workers.
Fatigue as defined in the Medical Dictionary is a "physical and/or mental exhaustion that can be triggered by stress, medication, overwork, or mental and physical illness or disease. Fatigue and sleepiness are often used interchangeable, however they are distinct experiences. Sleepiness refers to a disposition to fall asleep, while fatigue describes an overwhelming feeling of exhaustion, tiredness associated with a weakened physical and/or cognitive ability. Sleepiness and fatigue often coexist in many professions. The nursing profession is no exception. We are aware of media coverage of past catastrophic accidents. Fatigue has been noted as a major causative factor in some aviation and nuclear power industries accidents. The National
The concept of burnout was first introduced by Herbert J. Freudenberg who made use of clinical observation to arrive at symptoms which were related to burnout (Paris & Hoge, 2010). Even though such method was not adopted to assess burnout, it has definitely given rise to more studies being conducted to assess burnout in various professions and fields (Paris & Hoge, 2010).
Ryndes, T. (1997). Stress: Creating an environment to prevent burnout. The healthcare Forum, 40(4), 54-57. doi: 233513320