Work Stress and Burnout Among Nurses

The paper “Work Stress and Burnout Among Nurses ” is a great example of a nursing assignment. We have been studying the effects of stress on nurses since the 1950s and 1960s, and stress and burnout remain significant concerns for nurses and administrators. Most of the studies involving nurse stress looked at nurses in acute care settings, which are certainly very stressful.Work Stress and Burnout Among Nurses Studies have looked at stress vs. patient outcomes, the effects of long shifts, the age and experience levels of nurses, and how a nurse’s family situation contributed to burnout. It was most interesting to look at different ways to reduce stress because those ways help on the job and in family life. Social support from co-workers and family help relieve stress because everyone is in the situation together.Work Stress and Burnout Among Nurses Empowerment is also important, and that comes with proper training and tools, and schedules that allow nurses flexibility while still meeting patient care goals.

Empowerment works at all levels, from managers and administrators, through the nursing staff, and down to the patients themselves. Confidence, knowledge, and skill mean better nursing care and stronger nurses who experience less burnout. It is also interesting that this review of literature and studies points out that there are flaws in the studies themselves which makes the information incomplete. Sometimes we start out with an idea like “It’s a good idea to empower nurses” without really defining what we mean. The very best studies focus on one aspect of an idea and measure it carefully while taking into account what caused the aspect to happen. For instance, nurse burnout and stress have been studied, but manager burnout and stress has not been thoroughly studied. We know from just working in a nursing environment that our manager’s stress levels impact our own, and it would be good to look at that idea in depth.Work Stress and Burnout Among Nurses