Work Stress and Burnout among Nurses



Work Stress and Burnout among Nurses

Introduction

It has been recognized worldwide work stress has become a problem of growing importance that occurs in all trades but especially in care work. In today's fast moving and hectic environment, there is immense pressure of work and related activities making it difficult to maintain personal standards and care. Continuous pressures from work related activities forms stress in the human, which plays a key role in generating mental and physical problems in an individual.

In simple terms, stress can be identified as the rate of wear and tear on the system of human body caused by various reasons. There are many reasons from which stress generates and this anxiety is becoming a major problem at work. Individuals are facing problems relating to stress and are finding it difficult to cope up with such trauma. Nursing is a profession, which is adhering to such attributes of stress, as the occupation is very demanding and requires immense dedication. Consequently, the health's of nurses are in serious threat and could be affected by dangerous consequences of stress and there is an essential need of developing strategies of nurses stress response.

It is understandable that nursing requires dedication, and working in such domain or operating as a nursing staff in any area of hospital requires hard work and patience and to cope with such attributes it becomes a very stressful experience. Moreover, working and operating in areas such as the intense care unit or the crisis room requires immediate responses from the nursing staff resulting in increased levels of stress, as the patients require a high level of care. The height of responsibility increases when working in such critical care unit, as the patients require a very high level of integrated care and the risk associated in critical care of such patients is very high and many a times generates stressful conditions for the nursing staff.

Objectives of the study

This descriptive study objective was to review publications in the last decade so far, related to burnout and its impact on the work of the nurse, as well as management strategies described occupational stress.

Problem statement

Burnout was recognized as an occupational hazard for professionals in health, education and welfare services, leading to illness or physical, mental and compromising the results of their work, impacting organizations due to absences, increased interpersonal conflicts and turnover. The demands of modern life and the labor market in recent decades are energy consuming physical and mental health of workers, undermining their commitment, dedication and making them regarding their achievements and success at work. Moreover, the decreased level of stress in among the nurses can improve the quality of professional work in the critical care unit.

Methodology

This research is conducted for the period of 2000-2010 in electronic databases in the disciplines of nursing, psychology, health sciences, and test and personal heritage descriptors using the authors stress, stressors, work, nurse, coping, burnout and psychological adjustment.

Articles

Article#1 Cole, F. L., Slocumb, E. ...