Stress in Nursing

1. 0 Hi everyone....I am doing a powerpoint on Nursing Stress today and would love to open this website in class. I would like to take an informal poll on what you think causes the most stress in your work environment and what nursing specialties you think generate the most stress. Thanks....

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2. 38 Comments

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3. 
   #1 0

   May 2, '05 by Tweety, BSN

   For me it's the demands of caring for high acuity patients, while having a poor nurse to patient ratio. Currently where I work on day shift it's 1:7 or 1:8. It's quite stressful to prioritize, teach, and do all everything I would like to do for these patients.
4. 
   #2 0

   May 2, '05 by Hellllllo Nurse

   I have worked in many different areas of nursing, and one area is not more stressful than another, imo. Lack of respect, lack of supplies, and purposeful poor staffing by mgmt are what creates the stress in nursing.
5. 
   #3 0

   May 2, '05 by Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN Guide

   Getting up at 1:45 a.m. to get ready to be at work at 2:45 a.m. for a 3 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift . . . .
   
   steph
6. 
   #4 0

   May 2, '05 by markjrn, RN

   Staffing ratios, eat their own mentalities, and tempermental physicians. Always. A decent wage is nice, too.
7. 
   #5 0

   May 2, '05 by lpn1313

   Stress? In this job? Seroiusly, I get stressed by staffing shortages, people who come in to work only to collect a check, families that don't understand that Mom/Dad just can't do that (walk, talk, remember) anymore. Residents who think they still know what's going on and refuse the help that they really need. Backstabbing co-workers. Whiners. Management and their unrealistic ideas. But lest you think I really just hate my job, there's the happy stress of helping a resident regain an ADL that they were unable to do. Admitting a new friend to the floor. Being the one person that a dementia resident will let near them. Being the one person that a certain family member comes to all the time for help resolving a problem. Doctors who actually listen to what I have to say about things.
8. 
   #6 0

   May 2, '05 by VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN Guide

   Stress? WHAT stress?! :smiley_ab :lol_hitti
   
   Seriously, my main stressor is too much to do, too many patients to do it for, and too little time to do what I think is good care. :stone
9. 
   #7 0

   May 2, '05 by leslie :-D

   the unrealistic demands and expectations from tptb combined with ridiculous staffing ratios and in my field, the demands and lability of the pt's families. they can and do take up much of your time; and when you have another one of your pts actively dying but are trying to reassure a family of a pt w/another terminal dx, boy the stress builds. (i worked in hospice)
   
   leslie
10. 
    #8 0

    May 3, '05 by Judee Smudee

    I agree with the people who are saying high patient to nurse ratios. I just recently resigned over this very thing.
11. 
    #9 0

    May 3, '05 by CathRN

    I agree with the other posters, unrealistic nurse/patient workloads. I think that is the biggest complaint that I and my co-workers have. Back-bitting, upper management (don't get me started on that)!.
12. 
    #10 0

    May 3, '05 by rjflyn

    Well im in ED so its the never ending flow. Worse is the patients that come that dont/shouldn't have to be there. The need to get a primary care physican, and one that can see them in a timely fashion. The floor can and does say they are full, sometimes when they are not- ie staffing/ratio issues. So we end up with admitted pts in the ED for long periods of time.
    
    Rj
13. 
    #11 0

    May 3, '05 by Sailingshoes

    Nursing stress - being responsible for everything! Doctor's orders, lab, radiology, any procedures, dietary, secretary, phys. therapy, anything that has anything to do with the patient ultimately comes down to the nurse and if the doc or any of the other departments make an error, the nurse is usually the one having to deal in some way. Also, being pulled in so many different directions and frequently being unable to take care of one problem while several others occur. And, finishing the shift wondering if you did this or that.....lack of accomplishment, lack of feeling like a job well done as there is always more to do....
14. 
    #12 0

    May 3, '05 by angelbyte

    I work in drug and vaccine research, not doing conventional patient care, so I have some "different" stressors (that when examined, are not that different).
    
    My biggest stress comes from having managers that assign tasks without checking for proper staffing. Case in point- I'm involved in a phase 1 clinical trial of a nasal vaccine for RSV/PIV3. Research demands a lot of paperwork and redundancy (thank you, FDA) and a simple nasal wash/nasal swab visit may take 5 minutes for the patient and 45 minutes for me. The manager who signed the contract for the study didn't check staffing patterns and as a result I had to work at 3 sites to do the study (instead of one), drive over 800 miles in the last 3 weeks to cover the sites, and the manager herself was not available (she was on vacation part of the time and at investigator meetings the rest of the time).
    
    Another stressor is doing non-nursing tasks. I am expected to act as a go-between for doctors in site offices and the doctors/managers at the research firm. For example- in order for Drug Rep A to talk to Dr. K, the drug rep called my manager, the manager called me, I called the Dr. K's practice manager, who looked at Dr. K's schedule and gave me 3 dates. I called my manager, who called Rep A, who chose a date, called the manager, who called me, and I called the practice manager to confirm. Wouldn't it have been easier for Drug Rep A to call the practice manager or Dr. K? Other non-nursing tasks are clerical, usually paperwork related.
    
    So, at bottom, my stressors are an out-of-touch management and being tied up with non-nursing tasks; just like nurses who work in hospitals.
    
    Donna

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