Stress refers to a physiological and psychological and response to unwelcoming experiences usually referred to as stressors. A person’s stress threshold is determined by the source of stress, individual characteristics, past experiences, and coping skills. Sources of stress are grouped into four: social stressors, the physical environment, physiological, and psychological, which exist in diverse occupational settings (Kaburi et al., 2019). This paper seeks to explore the prevalence of occupational stress among nurses, including the factors that may influence population health management for nurses, and propose a potential solution to solve this health issue.
Population Description, Including Demographics and Health Concerns
According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), nursing is the largest healthcare profession in the U.S, with over 3.8 million registered nurses (RNs) countrywide. Besides, 84.5% of licensed RNs are employed in nursing (AACN, 2019). There are approximately 122,000 RNs in my state, North Carolina. The federal government estimates that more than 200,000 new RN positions will be formed annually from 2016-2026 (AACN, 2019). Approximately 58% of RNs work in general medical and surgical healthcare facilities and are the primary providers of hospital patient care providing the largest part of the country’s long-term care.
Occupational stress is an acknowledged health concern among nurses. A relationship of various factors in the work environment causes occupational stress among nurses. The key factors among these are high workloads, understaffing, high demand for administrative accountability, working in a physically and emotionally exhausting environment, insufficient autonomy during decision making, and lack of cooperation from patients and their families (Kaburi et al., 2019). Furthermore, strained working relationships between nurses and other health professionals, lack of support by the management, and the high degree of knowledge and skill required, are associated with occupational stress (Veda & Roy, 2020). Nurses’ stress is aggravated by the need to respond immediately in an emergency, the necessity for continuous attention to details of patient care, and lack of time to take a break.
Synthesis of Nursing Science, Determinants of Health, and Epidemiologic, Genomic, and Genetic Data in the Management of Population Health
Nursing science can influence the management of occupational stress among nurses by researching evidence-based strategies to prevent or alleviate stress in the nursing profession. Besides, nurses can identify stressors in their working environment and examine strategies that can be implemented to mitigate these stressors (Veda & Roy, 2020). Nursing science can impact stress management by nurses providing health promotion to other nurses on stress-management techniques to reduce the impact of stress on their health and quality of patient care.
Determinants of health that may impact management of this issue include income and working environment. Keykaleh et al. (2018) explain that a major cause of stress among nurses is the stressful working conditions. These factors include long working hours, high workload, dissatisfaction with wages and benefits, and working overtime. The factors can negatively impact occupational stress management among nurses since they alleviate psychological stress, resulting in poor mental health outcomes. The lack of social support from patients, relatives, and other health providers also affects the management of the condition because they intensify the stress.
Epidemiologic, genomic, and genetic data influence the occurrence of occupational stress among nurses and its management. According to Kakemam et al. (2019), epidemiologic factors that impact occurrence and management of occupational stress among nurses include female gender, being married, increased work hours, and working in general wards, emergency, and teaching hospitals. Consequently, stress may be more severe among female and married nurses and those working in the mentioned clinical settings. Meier et al. (2019) found that PDE4B genetic variants are associated with anxiety and stress-related disorders. Nurses with this genetic variant may thus be more vulnerable to occupation stress, and their management may be more complicated than those without the variant.
Potential Solution and PICOT Statement
Occupational stress among nurses is associated with far-reaching consequences both for nurses and their patients. According to Starc (2018), stress can have a considerable effect on nurses and their capacity to carry out tasks and, in particular, low concentration levels, poor decision making, decreased motivation, apathy, and anxiety. Therefore, it is crucial to identify a
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