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Emotional Cost Of Nursing
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ScienceDaily
June 25, 2009
What are the costs of caring? A new project in the School of Psychology explores nurses’ experience of distress and aims to determine if empathy with patients is associated with traumatic experience in nurses.
Researcher Jenny Watts said nurses can develop symptoms such as flashbacks, sleeping difficulty and emotional detachment which can have serious consequences for both their personal and professional lives.
Miss Watts said: “What is apparent is that nurses who identify with the patient and experience empathy appear to be most vulnerable to distress.
“Nursing is a diverse specialty and patient condition and contact will vary greatly between different wards. Currently the research focuses upon surgery, accident and emergency and children’s wards.
“Nurses caring for patients with dementia and other age related illnesses have shown anxiety and depression following patient deterioration and death.
“Further knowledge about nurse distress is required to shape interventions, reduce staff turnover, improve morale and maintain a high quality of care.
“This knowledge will be applied to shape suitable prevention and intervention strategies.”
Miss Watts added that with a growing number of patients aged over 70, it was important to ensure that the nursing force remains healthy, compassionate and able to provide high quality care for older adults.
She will be presenting her research at the Festival of Postgraduate Research which is taking place on the 25th June at the University of Leicester.
University of Leicester (2009, June 24). Emotional Cost Of Nursing. ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 25, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2009/06/090623090701.htm
saleys
4 months ago
10 comments
Great article - the Jones (2005) study found that when a hospital loses an experienced nurse (leaves the hospital to find another job or a different career), it costs the hospital between 61,000 and 67,000 per nurse. Nursing retention is critical - not only for the care of patients and families but also the cohesiveness of clinical teams. I believe the stress mentioned in the article above is traumatogenic and it takes each nurse an abundance of skills to manage that type of stress. If you have the interpersonal defenses to manage this stress (which involves the interpersonal ways you manage your feelings and emotions), you can be a very successful (and very compassionate) nurse. If you don't have these skills, then those little maladaptive coping skills may show up or you may experience exacerbated symptoms to depression and anxiety.
Also - using these skills in departments varies as well - in Emergency Departments, patients are triaged, treated and discharged quickly, in an acute care unit, not only do you have to manage the acuity of the patient but the reactions of the family members and friends who may be overwhelmed with the patient's illness as well as the overstimulating nature of an ICU or CCU as well as all of those acronyms we use in healthcare environments that they may not understand. (and how's the parking at your hospital? - DId they have to wait forever to find a space?)
Need help? Our company RN-Coach.com provides coaching, consulting and debriefing specifically for healthcare professionals who face the challenges of acute healthcare environments on a daily basis. First consultation is free - visit us on the web at http://www.RN-coach.com
marcis
4 months ago
18 comments
I agree with both Leilove and Ivn. Reality is workloads are too heavy to give a new nurse the time a new grad should have. At the same time I have seen cruel nurses eat the young nurses just because their mean and know a new grad is too fearful to stand up for themselves. What is really sad is the schools have shortened clinical time, new grads are unprepared for the heavy workloads!
Leilove
4 months ago
2 comments
That's the reality of nursing. Nurses don't try to eat the young it's that the older nurses have learned that all those ideals we come to nursing with get lost after you are left with heavy work loads and the supplies you need to do a good job aren't there and you are told to deal with it. We all remember how it was when we got out of school too. After being a nurse you see that the administarative people are in charge and nurse can't give the care we know patients should get becuase noone will listen to the nurses. Nurses do the best they can with what administration people give us to work with. Give yourself a few years and look back and see if you still feel the way you do today about nursing.
lvn82007
5 months ago
2 comments
AS a new nurse I was given 3 days orientation then left to do my job plus do what other more experienced nurses had not done. I have been told that nurses eat their young. That really doesn't encourage new nurses. There were times that meds or other things needed for pt care were not available, but everyone else marked at that it had been done. I would not. I was stressed out all the time. When I would asked for the supplies; I was told that the facility did not want to spend to much money. What is one to do?