Strategies to prevent Stress & Burnout in Nursing Introduction In hospitals, nurses come in contact with patients all through, and they do not get relief from burnout. The journal of Clinical Psychiatry reported that nurses who are employed in the most crowded sectors most probably take long-term sickness absence as compared to nurses who work in sectors with optimal number of patients. Literature review shows that nurses who experience stress and burnout may be affected professionally, and the quality of care they give to their peers, patients, and themselves may as well be negatively affected. In the nursing profession, burnout may occur due to unrelenting stress, though it is not similar to extreme stress. By definition, stress involves extreme pressure that demands much from a nurse psychologically and physically. Just like any other person in any profession, stressed nurses can still imagine, that if everything was put under control, then they will be relieved. A nurse who is burnt out feels empty, lacks motivation, and is beyond caring. The Burnout syndrome is characterized by depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, and reduced individual accomplishment. He or she does not see any hope of positive change in a given situation, and is all dried up. In most cases, stress education programs fail to materialize due to their irrelevancy to bedside nurses or because such nurses do not get any support from the administration. Finding sufficient strategies aimed at averting burnout and stress are vital, and would not only limit the quantity of suffering for nurses, but would also benefit the Healthcare sector (McConnell, 2008). Literature review A number of studies have explored burnout and stress among nurses in many countries in relation to patient outcomes. Too often, burnouts are directly linked to increased mortality, patient dissatisfaction, and failure to rescue. Similarly, in a relation between clinical care and personal stress, nurses reported 76 incidents where they believed patient care was badly impacted by stress (Timby & Smith, 2005). However, personality has been always considered as a significant variable in the work stress/burnout equation in many investigations. Jointly, these findings support the fact that perceptions of burnouts and work stress among nurses are not just as a result of work conditions given that not all nurses, exposed to the same working conditions, experience stress or develop burnout. Neurotism has been linked to exhaustion, while external locus of control has showed a positive correlation with stress and burnout. Evaluation of anxiety demonstrates a connection with burnout and stress. Anxiety may be more stable and viewed as a personality feature. Ahola (2007) concluded that nurses with high state anxiety do not only risk having burnouts, but also make medical errors. Maslach C, and Jackson S. (1982), in their study found that nurses with high trait-anxiety experienced psychological distress. Further, relationships with head nurses, coworkers, physicians, and other departments are key predictors of psychological stress. Oral abuse from physicians has been noted to stress up staff nurses. Most frequent source of abuse tend to be other nurses, family abuse come second, and physician abuse is least frequent. Professional standards to ensure quality care for their clients Burnout and stress are most likely causes of poor performance and negative work attitudes. According to Elis and Hartley (2004), professional standards in nursing such as setting realistic goals, not taking issues individually, taking time away, and doing things differently help nurses gain a better sense of accomplishment. Dissimilar work routines can help to deter psychological stress and give a sense of better control. Carrying out tasks less personally entails objectifying negative interactions in helping limit emotional involvement, thus reducing stress. Failure to bring patient problems at home also decreases emotional involvement by nurses. Keeping professional standards also may involve the way nurses manage their time and communicate with patients and other people. According to Timby and Smith, (2005), nurses ought to take some time away as well as organizing their work more effectively. Increased daily working hours and long stretches of work may result in fatigue and medical errors. These professionals should therefore take a few minutes to stretch, make a personal phone call, take a walk, meditate, read a newspaper, or simply relax for a moment. These simple techniques to “recharge” are likely to increase their productivity and make them more effective than working tirelessly. Professionally, they can also manage their time well by scheduling a set of uninterrupted time such as not picking phone calls at work or reading Emails so that they can perform their clinical work effectively. Maintaining positive relationships with patients, colleagues, and phy
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