Nurse Coping Procedures - Research Paper Example

Nurse Coping Procedures Svitlana Granat Prof. Jessica Sticklor CMP101 English Composition (8/7/2012) Introduction It has often been argued that nurses have to deal with serious issues in the clinical setting. In their daily work-life, most of the nurses face emotional as well as professional demands, which is characterised to be unrecognized to the wider society. It is a well-known fact that the nurses, in their caring profession, tend to concentrate upon the physical as well as emotional needs of others and, thus, they often fail to take due care of themselves. One of the most serious risks that the nurses have to witness in their day to day work is fundamentally related to stress. Coping up with the stress is quite significant; however, it is often noted that the nurses find themselves in such circumstances where the key source of stress is difficult to be abolished or at least controlled considerably (Lambert & Lambert, 2008). The chief objective of this paper is to identify the ways in which nurses can effectively cope up with the various stressors persisting in their daily work-life. The study also attempts at comprehending how nurses can individually cope up with the consequences of stress, rendering due significance to the steps taken by the hospital authorities towards assisting them in dealing with the problems. Defining Stress and Its Causes among the Nurses Stress can be defined as the emotional and physical response which an individual tends to experience when he/she perceives an imbalance between the demands placed upon them and the resources availed. Stress becomes most apparent when there is requirement of coping with such grave issues (Greenberg, 2008). It is to be mentioned that stress may range from major physical crisis such as heart attack, to minor symptoms such as tiredness and interrupted sleep patterns. Thus, it is quite significant for the nurses to identify and administer the early symptoms of stress so that they can deter serious effects related to stress upon their health (Kane, 2008). It is quite significant to study in details the various stressors that are learnt to hamper the productivity and lives of the nurses in their daily work-life. It has been noted that most of the nurses offer direct care to the patients and, thus, they become emotionally attached with the patients. Furthermore, a few of them are even observed to be emotionally abused by their patients. In the current scenario, workload is also regarded as another major contributor towards stress among the nurses. Lack of support and poor working relationship with the doctors also lead to stress and thus hamper the day to day activities of the nurses. It is worth mentioning in this regard that the effect of stress is quite detrimental for the healthcare setting. In this regard, it has often been witnessed that nurses confronting with high level of stress tend to remain absent in the workplace in frequent instances. Moreover, high stress leads to mental, as well as physical, illness among the nurses (Macquarie Institute, 2012). Stress Management Techniques Coping can be identified as continuously altering cognitive, as well as behavioural, efforts made by an individual towards administering the internal and external demands that, in general, tend to exceed the resources of the person. According to Lazarus & Folkman (1984), there are nearly eight coping strategies that most of the people use in order to fight with stress. These eight strategies comprise of confrontive coping, accepting accountability, seeking community support, problem solving, positive re-evaluation, unfriendliness, escape-avoidance and self control (Mims & Stanford, 2012). Different organisations tend to follow distinct stress management techniques. For instance, a few of the healthcare setting tends to manage the work environment by minimising the external sources related to stress while others majorly focus upon administering the professionals’ intrapersonal factors with greater significance. Hence, it can be stated that the stress management techniques can be categorised into two forms. One of them can be identified in terms of environment management that makes necessary arrangements in order to minimise the sources of stress amid the nurses. The other can be related to methods that aim to endorse personnel in dealing with the stressful situation in an effective manner (Hunt, 2009). One of the most significant methods of finding solution to stress is related to the fact that nurses must identify and likewise express that there is a problem. It can be noted that the registered nurses are supposed to treat other people with utmost care and consequentially lack in identifying their personal requirements. It can be stated in this context that if they are not capable of recognising their emotions, in such circumstances, they will be incapable of generating compassion for themselves which is quite likely to lead to dissatisfaction. There are a few strategies such as journaling, mediating as well as praying that can assist the nurses to minimise the degree of stress witnessed (NSW Nurses, 2006). In this regard, the other known fact is that nurses are often found to be good at caring for others. However, they feel comfortable in handling problems of their own that deters them from approaching the supportive listeners who can offer them with feedback regarding their behaviour. Contextually, journals assist the nurses in reviewing the details and thus identify optional strategies to handle the issue in a different manner. Relaxation and rest after continuous work can also help the nurses in reducing the level of stress witnessed by them to a great extent. Nurses must be well aware of the various coping strategies owing to the fact that insufficient knowledge regarding the stress management techniques can act as a barrier to its execution. There are various complementary medicines as well as alternative therapies that have proven to be effective in relation to the issue of stress. Massage therapy, meditation, dance and yoga among other activities can be instituted into the daily schedules of the nurses. Training programmes aimed at reduction of the stress among the nurses can also be considered as one of the most effective strategies for reducing the level of stress. Contextually, most of the nurses, in general, prefer facilitating their personal traits related to problem solving, social support, strength of mind as well as positive self re-assessment, as a few of the coping strategies in the workplace (NSW Nurses, 2006). Steps To Be Taken By Hospitals to Manage Stress It has often been noted that shortage of nurses can have a detrimental impact upon the healthcare system. It is in this context that shortage of nurses tends to increase the workload amid the existing group of nurses that increases the stress level among them. It is also majorly because of the shortage of nurses that the hospital authorities are forced to mandate overtime for nurses and thus force additional responsibilities on their already excess workload. The hospital authorities are also forced to make job rotation from one unit to another, all of which is likely to compromise with the quality of care and in turn minimise the degree of job satisfaction among the nurses (Macquarie Institute, 2012). Hence, in order to minimise the level of stress among the nurses, it is vital for the hospital authorities to employ agency nurses and/or recruit travelling nurses who can be recruited from various parts of the country in order to fill the gap witnessed in terms of the unavailability of local nurses with specific skills. In this context, it has been noted that New Jersey as well as numerous states are making attempts to consider laws that would prevent nurses from working for more than one shift on a daily basis. Most of the time, it has been noted that the commitments and level of dedications made by the nurses remain unnoticed by the hospital administrators because of the workload issues which in turn increases the level of stress among the nurses being neglected in terms of proper career growth (Macquarie Institute, 2012). Therefore, it becomes crucial on the part of the hospital settings to create a working environment that rewards attainment, offers attractive compensation and benefits to the nurses along with allowing employment stability, increase in their social status within the workplace setting, as well as training and education programmes to expand their skills through personal development. It is also important for the healthcare organisations to offer freedom and self-governance to the stressed nurses so that they can take decisions independently by a certain extent regarding their job responsibilities. It is in this context that nurses seek for an environment that offers them with the required materials to conduct their job. They further aspire for an environment that has a supervisor who is worried about the overall development of nurses and thus have colleagues who are interested in delivering quality care to the patients. In the absence of these qualities, it is quite obvious that the stress is likely to continue to harm every aspect of the health care system, affecting the quality of care and simultaneously, hindering the energy that is required to re-vitalise the system. In order to implement these strategies in an effective way, there is need for sincere commitment that initiates form the top level of the organisation and further spreads throughout the organisation. Furthermore, there is need of transformation in the corporate culture of the hospitals that can be attained by means of consistent leadership development accentuating emotional skills and self-management (Macquarie Institute, 2012). Conclusion Nurses are faced with huge stresses in the workplace setting that hamper the quality of the healthcare service being offered to the patients by a considerable extent. Furthermore, there are numerous stressors that lead to detrimental impact upon the health of the nurses. A few among them are workload, lack of support from the superiors, and patient’s attitude in response to the treatment among others. If the nurses, as well as the healthcare professionals, can identify stressors in the work environment, they will be capable of handling the issues related to stress before they arise in the organisation. Strategies such as yoga, meditation, journaling and massage have been identified as some of the most useful strategies that can be used by the nurses to deal with the level of stress effectively. References Greenberg, G. (2008). The Noble Lie: When Scientists Give the Right Answers for the Wrong Reasons. United States: John Wiley & Sons. Hunt, S. T. (2009). Nursing turnover: costs, causes, & solutions. Retrieved from http://www.uexcel.com/resources/articles/NursingTurnover.pdf Kane, P. P. (2009). Stress causing psychosomatic illness among nurses. Indian Journal Occupational Environmental Medicine. 13(1): 28-32. Lambert, V. A. & Lambert, C. E. (2008). Nurses workplace stressors and coping strategies. Indian Journal of Palliative Care. 14(1): 38-44. Lazarus, R. S. & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer. Macquarie Institute. (2012). New hope for the nurse shortage crisis. Retrieved from http://www.macquarieinstitute.com/health/hospital/nurse_white_paper.pdf Mims, A. & Stanford, T. (2012). Stress and burnout among critical care nurses. Retrieved from http://www.lagrange.edu/resources/pdf/citations/nursing/Stress%20and%20Burnout.pdf NSW Nurses. (2009). Stress Management for nurses. Retrieved from http://www.nswnurses.asn.au/multiattachments/5695/DocumentName/Nurses_Stress_Management_Booklet.pdf Read More