Role Strain and Burnout in Nursing
Write a 1000-1500 word essay addressing each of the following points/questions. Be sure to completely answer all the questions for each bullet point. There should be three main sections, one for each bullet below. Separate each section in your paper with a clear heading that allows your professor to know which bullet you are addressing in that section of your paper. Support your ideas with at least three (3) sources using citations in your essay. Make sure to cite using the APA writing style for the essay. The cover page and reference page in correct APA do not count towards the minimum word amount. Review the rubric criteria for this assignment.
What happens to the nurse when role stress or strain becomes too overwhelming? What happens to patient care? How is this related to possible ethic and legal issues? Discuss how nurses can manage or reduce role stress and role strain.
Explain two issues that lead to nurse burnout and discuss a solution for each issue.
Think of an experience in your nursing profession where you either felt strain or burnout and how you overcame this event. (Since this is personal experience, you can use first person narration for this portion of your essay.)
The following specifications are required for this assignment:
Length: 1000-1500 words
Structure: Include a title page and reference page in APA style. These do not count towards the minimal word amount for this assignment.
References: Use the appropriate APA style in-text citations and references for all resources utilized to answer the questions. Include at least three (3) scholarly sources to support your claims.
Format: Save your assignment as a Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx).
Filename: Name your saved file according to your first initial, last name, and the module number (for example, “RHall Module 1.docxâ€)
Sample Paper
Nurse Burnout
Nurse burnout is one of the significant issues that nurses encounter in their daily practices. This problem occurs when a nurse experiences chronic work-related stress and can affect the nurse physically, mentally, and even emotionally. Various factors contribute to nursing burnout, including long work hours, inadequate staff, sleep deprivation, emotional stain from patient care, and a high-stress work environment (Abellanoza et al., 2018). Burnout affects nurses negatively. It lowers nurses’ performance level and their quality of life and increases their intention to leave the job. The consequences of this nursing practice issue are not limited to the nurses’ well-being. It can also undermine patient care. For example, nurses with burnout may have impaired attention and memory which makes them commit medical errors, which lead to negative patient outcomes (Garcia et al., 2019). This essay aims at discussing the impact of burnout on nurses, patient care, the possible ethical and legal issues associated with nurse burnout, and the strategies that can help manage the issue. In addition, the paper provides a personal reflection concerning the nursing practice issue.
Impacts of Nurse Burnout
Role stress and overwork can lead to strain among nurses. Nurses overwhelmed with role stress, and strain are more likely to experience mental problems such as anxiety, depression, and feelings of inadequacy. Secondly, these issues can undermine the nurse’s behaviour. Role stress and strain can impact an individual nurse’s ability to accomplish tasks, lower their level of concentration, undermine their decision-making abilities, and even lead to decreased motivation. These behavioural changes can make impair the nurse’s job performance (Garcia et al., 2019). Besides, nurses overwhelmed with role stress are more likely to engage in smoking, alcohol drinking, and drug abuse, which also lead to negative health conditions. Thirdly, role stress and strain have been associated with low job satisfaction, which makes nurses leave the nursing profession and shift to a less-stressful occupation. Lastly, work-related stress can also lead to physical health issues among nurses. Some of the physical health problems that nurses are overwhelmed with role stress and strain experience include musculoskeletal disorders such as chronic back pain and gastrointestinal disorders (Garcia et al., 2019).
Role Stress and Strain also Undermine Patient Care
Patient care deteriorates when then a nurse is experiencing role stress and strain. This is because burnout leads to various negative effects on nurses, which impact them negatively, undermining them from providing quality and safe care. One of the effects of this nursing practice issue on patients includes reduced patient satisfaction. Nurses overwhelmed with role stress, and strain tends to experience various mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety. These health problems may make them develop aggressive attitudes towards their patients or their colleagues and even undermine them from providing high-quality care. Such attitudes can harm patient satisfaction as they will see them as unfit to perform their duties (Garcia et al., 2019). Secondly, nurses affected by burnout issues are more likely to commit medical errors, which cause various adverse effects on patients. Stressed nurses commit various medical errors, such as giving the patients an improper dose and administration errors like extra or underdose. These medication errors can lead to adverse patient outcomes, including severe damage to body organs, such as kidneys, and even sudden death (Garcia et al., 2019). Nursing burnout is associated with various issues, including malpractice and negligence. Nurses overwhelmed with work-related stress and strain are more likely to commit medical malpractices, such as medical errors (Garcia et al., 2019). Also, stressed nurses are at a higher risk of mental problems, such as poor memory and low concentration, which make them bleach patient confidentiality and safety guidelines.
Nurses can manage or reduce role stress and role strain in various ways. First, nurses need to maintain a healthy diet and exercise. For instance, nurses should bring healthy snacks to work and avoid relying on fast food or junk food vending machines. Also, the nurse should engage in regular exercise (Kurosaka & Payton, 2020). This can be an effective way to combat stress. Secondly, sharing your work challenges with friends and family members can help relieve stress. Therefore, nurses can join support groups such as community and faith-based organizations, which provide outlets for sharing experiences (Kurosaka & Payton, 2020). Thirdly, nurses can set aside time to recharge following long shifts or stressful duties to break the cycle.
Issues Leading to Nurse Burnout
Long shifts are one of the main issues leading nurse burnout. Nurses who work for long hours are more likely to experience burnout compared to those working for a short period (Dall’Ora et al., 2020). The risk of burnout increase with longer working hours or when nurses work overtime. This is because long working hours can lead to fatigue, tiredness, and lack of attentiveness. Besides, when nurses work extended work shifts, they lack enough time to exercise, rest, or sleep, hence hindering them from refreshing up. They end up experiencing extreme physical exhaustion, and sleeping difficulties and even start dozing off at abnormal times. Various factors make nurses work for long hours. One of them is a growing demand for nurses as the ageing population and the prevalence of chronic disease increases (Dall’Ora et al., 2020). As a result, nurses are forced to work extended work shifts to meet the increasing patient needs. The issue of long working hours can be addressed by adjusting staffing models to match the demand for care. Therefore, nurse managers should collaborate with other stakeholders to project the patient care demands and adjust their work schedules properly to meet the patient care demands to avoid overworking nurses (Kurosaka & Payton, 2020).
A high-stress environment also increases the risk of burnout. Nurses working in more nursing specialities like the emergency department or intensive care are more stressed than others. This is because they deal with circumstances that can lead to high-stress levels and increased burnout like combative patients, traumatic injuries, and ethical dilemmas (Abellanoza et al., 2018). Various measures can be taken to prevent this issue. One of them includes cultivating a strong support system characterized by teamwork and collaboration. Also, the healthcare organization should provide ample and ongoing quality training to nurses in stress management and also create effective safety plans (Kurosaka & Payton, 2020).
