[NRSKarenRN]

FRom OJIN:

New Article on Nursing Shortage Topic

10/29/07

A new update is now posted to the Nursing Shortage topic! Why Emotions Matter: Age, Agitation, and Burnout among Registered Nurses considers how the experience of burnout relates to the nursing shortage and examines the scope of nurses’ emotional experiences. Authors Erickson and Grove contend that these experiences may be particularly consequential for understanding higher levels of burnout reported by younger nurses. Their study demonstrated that nurses younger than 30 years of age were more likely to experience feelings of agitation and less likely to engage in techniques to manage these feelings. Erickson and Grove discuss the need for awareness of emotional demands facing today’s nursing workforce and the need for experienced nurses to serve as emotional mentors to those entering the profession.

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Read this lastest article...

[canoehead]

Good one.

I don't know why they haven't got nurse recruiters on a dual role as retainers as well. Seems like one job would complement the other nicely.

[oramar]

Great news that someone is doing this type of research.

[KayceeLeeRN]

Interesting! I am a younger nurse (under 30) and before I decided to leave my position on med/surg I reached out to my manager who responded by telling me "well I'm a nurse, and I never felt that way." (re: feeling very stressed and having trouble coping with it)

I resigned shortly after.

[Emmanuel Goldstein]

"Nurses’ negative feelings about their jobs, including their feelings of burnout, tend to be influenced more by the organizational practices governing the workplace than by the challenges inherent in caring for others."

YES. It isn't nursing that makes me want to bang my head against the wall.

[nurse hobbit]

It isn't nursing that causes the it is JACO, Managment, P & P, short staffing, get the picture.

I love nursing but not the *&*&*(&&&** you get from the above sources!!

[James Huffman]

from the article cited:

"Of these 829 registered nurses, 96% were female and 95% were Caucasian."

I wonder: did the article's authors find any differences between women and men respondents? (I know it's hard making a statistical discussion with such a small group of men and non-Caucasians). I've noticed that those who speak of "burnout" seem to be overwhelmingly women; it's always possible that men suffer from the same problem, but I don't hear men speaking about it.

I also wonder if there's a difference between Caucasian nurses and other ethnic groups (especially African American). I've likewise found that those who speak of burnout tend to be Anglos.

Another question about the survey would be whether their respondents were somewhat self-selected. In other words, did those who answered tend to be those who "feel" burnout while perhaps those who don't feel it just didn't return the survey?

[Spidey's mom]

Originally Posted by James Huffman

from the article cited:

"Of these 829 registered nurses, 96% were female and 95% were Caucasian."

I wonder: did the article's authors find any differences between women and men respondents? (I know it's hard making a statistical discussion with such a small group of men and non-Caucasians). I've noticed that those who speak of "burnout" seem to be overwhelmingly women; it's always possible that men suffer from the same problem, but I don't hear men speaking about it.

I also wonder if there's a difference between Caucasian nurses and other ethnic groups (especially African American). I've likewise found that those who speak of burnout tend to be Anglos.

Another question about the survey would be whether their respondents were somewhat self-selected. In other words, did those who answered tend to be those who "feel" burnout while perhaps those who don't feel it just didn't return the survey?

You make some good points.

I think this way now because I survived my Statistics class!

steph

[llg]

This is going to be an unpopular idea ... but the article made me think of the old way of thinking that women "shouldn't get themselves agitated" about frustrations n life. I mean in Jane Austen novels and the like. It was considered "unhealthy" for young women to have "high emotions" and be agitated in any way.

I always took that as an example of the "poppycock" of a bygone era ... but the article made me wonder if there isn't some connection. Perhaps young women DO tend to resond to stress with an agitation that it non-porductive. Perhaps our forefathers (and mothers) were on to something.

I'm certainly not in agreement with their subjugation of women ... but perhaps there is a connection between their admonishments to "not agitate yourself so" and the phenomena discussed in the article.

[Valerie Salva]

Exhausted, discouraged, saddened, powerless, frightened – these are the emotions experienced by nurses on a daily basis. Nurses’ negative feelings about their jobs, including their feelings of burnout, tend to be influenced more by the organizational practices governing the workplace than by the challenges inherent in caring for others (Aiken et al., 2001, 2002; Aiken & Sloane, 1997). Supporting this view, a report based on the National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses indicated that it was the “structure of the job, rather than the composition of the work” that influenced nurses’ job satisfaction (Spratley, et al. 2000, p. 31).

That just hits the nail squarely on the head.