This paper will discuss chronic stress in newly qualified nurses and doctors. It is imperative healthcare professionals caring for patients are able to first care for themselves. The physiology and psychology of stress will be explored, and non-pharmacological treatment under the biopsychosocial framework (Engel, 1977), using the Transactional Model of Stress (Lazarus, 1966), as it is most appropriate to chronic stress. Several acutely stressful situations lead to chronic stress and its associated complications. Chronic stress is complex and can be psychologically and physically incapacitating. It is linked with multiple health problems impacting upon quality of life (Alvord et al., 2015).
Workloads place healthcare professionals under serious stress,
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‘The Nursing Stress Scale’ (Gray-Toft and Anderson, 1981) categorizes sources of stress and possible stressful situations in the clinical nursing arena: workload, death and dying, inadequate preparation, lack of staff support, uncertainty concerning treatment, conflict with other staff were all cited. The transition from internship to staff nurse and medical student to intern for doctors are huge role changes which inevitably cause chronic stress as well as the theory-practice gap. Preceptorship for newly qualified nurses is highly recommended in reducing stress levels, which transcends into better nursing care. Low confidence in the new role, moving wards, feeling excluded and unmet learning needs following undergraduate training and combining academic demands with work for doctors while training (Suresh, 2009). According to Tomioka et al., (2011), occupational stress because of the effort-reward disproportion was a bigger feature than the hours worked for depression among doctors. It also indicated adequate management of workplace stress is necessary to counteract depression among
Often time, nurses has been viewed by patients, their family members and the medical team as basic emotional care givers, pill crushers or cart pullers and not as healthcare professionals who are more interesting in health promotion, disease prevention and better patient outcomes. They also often forget the emotional, physical, mental, and caring part that is involved with the profession. And to make matters worse, nurses are continued to be viewed as a threat by doctors more than ever before especially with the opening of Nurse Practitioners programs.
The term ‘stress’ was generally thought to have been a concept created by Robert Hooke in the 17th century. He worked on the design of physical structures, such as bridges; his concept of stress came from how much pressure a structure could withstand. However, Lazarus (1993) pointed out that the term ‘stress’ has been used as far back as the 14th century, when it meant hardship or adversity. Back then it referred to the external stressor, such as the death of a spouse or financial worry; in the 20th century, there are many different schools of thought on this area. Hans Selye (1956), brought together the work of Cannon and Bernard and devised a comprehensive system of physiological stress; which he termed the ‘General Adaptation Syndrome’, and is a 3-stage process. He theorised that a certain level of stress called ‘eustress’ (Cox, 1978) could actually be beneficial to our overall performance. Later In 1976, Cox & Mackay devised another model called the ‘Transactional model’. This model takes into account the individual differences in the perception of the amount of stress experienced by the person. The main difference between these two models is that Selye’s model only accounts for the physiological side of stress, whereas Cox’s model takes into account both the physiological and psychological aspects of stress. Therefore, both models will have slight similarities and differences in their explanation for how stress occurs in individuals, which is the main focus of this essay.
Transitioning from academic nursing student to Registered Nurse/New Graduate Nurse (NGN) within the healthcare environment is a challenging task for many NGNs. They may encounter a number of challenges, such as the following: transition shock, professional isolation, lack of clinical experience, stress, lack of a support network and cultural incompetence. At the end, this essay will discuss the rationale for developing my two most important goals for the next twelve months. I presume the transition from academic nursing student to Graduate Nurse will be challenging and rewarding. In their findings, the researchers Doody, Tuohy & Deasy (2012) stated that for a successful transition NGNs need to be competent in a range of domains: interpersonal skills, managing workloads, providing health information, communication, and prioritising care delivery.
Newly graduated nurses lack clinical skills necessary to evolve professionally and carefully from academics to bedside practice (Kim, Lee, Eudey, Lounsbury & Wede, 2015). How scary is that not only for the patient but also for the new nurse himself or herself? While being faced with new challenges, an increasing amount of newly graduated RNs felt overcome and unqualified. Twibell and Pierre explain how new nurses express “disillusionment” about practice, scheduling, and being rewarded. Frustration and anger between employees play a huge part in NGNs resigning because of the lack of experience and knowledge of what to do in high stress situations (2012). Nursing residency programs have proven to directly improve patient care, develop critical
Nurses Joe and Sarah have been working in a medical surgical unit that has been experiencing a nursing shortage, which has led to an increase in the workload. Sarah has been feeling the physical effects of the stress and feels there is a lack of management support, while Joe experiences some feelings of being overwhelmed, but tries to use it as learning experiences. Joe has developed positive methods of coping, while Sarah is quickly heading towards burnout. Implications and Conclusions The information provided in the literature has great implications for practice in many units, including the writers. It is with great hopes that the research published can be presented to the committees on the unit in hopes that some of the workloads can be decreased to help with staffing and retention rates.
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.
A nurse that wishes to determine if he/she is stressed, must first be cognizant of the signs and symptoms. Often, stress manifests not just in physical ways but in emotional ways as all. The physical signs of stress include headaches, weight gain, fatigue, and an elevated glucose level, while the emotional signs include anger, lashing out, hostility, sadness, and abstinence and isolation from activities (Roszler & Brail 2017). Stress management is the process of integrating positive and healthy techniques into one’s lifestyle in an attempt to reduce stress. Physical activity such as yoga has been proven to reduce stress. Researchers have found that because yoga encourages one to relax, it shifts the flight-or-fight response to the relaxation response, which has been shown to decrease stress by lowering breathing and heart rates, decrease blood pressure, lower cortisol levels, and increase blood flow to vital organs (Woodyard
Nurses need to be physically and mentally able to deliver their duties to ensure the safety and health of those they care for. Thus, occupational stress among nurses is significant.
Prior to learning stress management techniques and procedures, it’s important to thoroughly understand bits and pieces that contributes to stress, it’s internal mechanism, biological as well as chemical processes that occurs within the systems of our body that generate stress response. It’s also equally important to learn about various stressors which are likely to cause stress, it’s symptoms, and potential health risks it may causes as a result of body being exposed to high level of stress. Once we have all the information required to understand stress from all directions while taking various perspectives into account, it is easier for us to effectively manage it. This approach will be more efficient rather than randomly trying to care stress with over the counter pain relief medications.
The transition from student to a qualified nurse can be a stressful and overwhelming ex-perience for many newly qualified nurses. This opinion is widely upheld throughout the literature with Higgins et al (2010) maintaining that many of the problems experienced are due to lack of support during this initial transition and a period of preceptorship would be invaluable.
Factors such as, heavy workloads, stress, job dissatisfaction, frequent medical errors, and intention of leaving the job are all common for nurses to experience, especially during the nursing shortage crisis. Not only do the nurses suffer during a shortage, but the patients ' health outcomes suffer even more. For instance, there are higher rates of infectious diseases and adverse patient outcomes, such as urinary tract infections (UTIs), upper gastrointestinal bleeding, shock, pneumonia, prolonged hospital stays, failure to rescue, and mortality. As a result, this leads to higher re-admission rates for patients. Furthermore, high patient-to-nurse ratios cause heavy workloads due to an inadequate supply of nurses, an increased demand for nurses, a reduction in staffing and an increase in overtime, and a shortened length of stay for patients. Without the heavy workloads that nurses have to endure on a daily basis, there would more time for nurses to communicate more effectively with physicians, insurance companies, and patients and their families. Those heavy workloads are the result of hospitals reducing the nursing staff and implementing mandatory overtime policies just to meet unexpectedly high demands. Unfortunately, the nursing shortage has affected nurses ' mental and physical health. For example, the most common health concerns for nurses include cardiovascular health, occupational injuries and illnesses, and emotional and physical exhaustion. Therefore, safe-staffing ratios/levels have to become the main
The purpose of this paper is to define stress and how it effects the body's physiological systems. This paper will include the normal functions and organs involved in the following five physiological systems, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, respiratory, immune and musculoskeletal. This paper will also include a description of a chronic illness associated with each physiological system and how the illness is affected by stress.
Despite that many don 't realize the dangers, stress is one of the most significant problems of modern times, causing serious problems on physical and mental health. Stress symptoms may be affecting a patients health, even though a doctor may not realize it. Don 't assume that an illness is to blame for that excruciating headache or your sleep deprivation. Let 's face it, everyone copes with stress. Sometimes stress is in our favor, but other times it could feel like stress is taking over. " Stress is a normal physical response your body uses to protect itself from challenges life throws at it each day"(Stress and Health: How Stress Affects Your Health) Stress affects everyone differently, so it 's important to understand what may be causing
Burnout within healthcare has been a prevalent topic of discussion and research for numerous years. Although the link between burnout rates and nursing as a whole has been well established; most studies do not distinguish the burnout rates within the specific branches of nursing. Among these branches is psychiatric nursing, specifically forensic psychiatric nursing; where studies regarding this topic is extremely limited. According to Pompili et al. (2006), psychiatric nurses were found to have higher levels of burnout than nurses of other speciality. More research regarding psychiatric nursing burnout rates within forensic will not only expand the knowledge of the nurses and the employers regarding the key stressors that are causing these
Stress is defined as “any circumstances that threaten or are perceived to threaten one’s well-being and thereby tax one’s coping abilities” (Weiten & Lloyd, 2006, p. 72). Stress is a natural event that exists literally in all areas of one’s life. It can be embedded in the environment, culture, or perception of an event or idea. Stress is a constant burden, and can be detrimental to one’s physical and mental health. However stress can also provide beneficial effects; it can satisfy one’s need for stimulation and challenge, promote personal growth, and can provide an individual with the tools to cope with, and be less affected by tomorrow’s stress (Weiten & Lloyd, 2006, p. 93).