Pediatric Nursing - STress and Burnout (1)

plchavard · May 4, 2006

I'm also a "block 2" nursing student and a Tech. Here are my observations.

I don't believe there is a nursing shortage in pediatrics today- as in Thursday of this week. I have noticed a huge drop in census on our peds floor since the end of RSV season. As a result many nurses get a call at 5 in the morning telling them to stay home on "hospital convienience" i.e. without pay. If this happens once a week that is a 33% drop in income due to the season. While travelers lighten the burden during the hard times - thier contracts are in jeopardy when the hard times are over. Staff nurses can be in a similar dilemma when the census falls to ten - which is now happening due to summer. I think pediatric nurses can float to units such as nursery or mother/baby but these units are so popular (as new grads may apply to them) there isn't much of a shortage there either.

I think a lot of nurses do not receive a lot of respect which may cause them to leave the profession. Additionally,the wide range of opportunities in nursing make it easy to cross train into something different from bedside nursing - for example pharmaceutical sales.

As far as getting more nurses into nursing I don't see there being a problem. Not only are the schools turning away ons of applicants, but record numbers of men are entering the professsion which is (unfortunately) good news for nurses! I think the problem is getting nurses to teach - a nurses salary may seem low to some - but have you seen a teacher's paycheck?

neonurse18 · May 5, 2006

I think you make some good points. Especially during seasonal times like RSV the census is higher in pediatric units and then may decrease when RSV season is over. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the NICU I currently work at. Our average daily census has increased and steadily remained high. We do have travelers come & go and they can be cancelled once a pay period so staff nurses don't have to stay home, therefore can still get paid. (for the majority of the times anyway). I can speak for many of our nurses & I know they would love to stay home for some shifts right now.

Currently in neonatal nurseries there is a shortage in Arizona.

The nursing programs in Arizona are mandated by the state to increase their capacity to allow more students into their programs to hopefully decrease the nursing shortage in Arizona.

nurselittlek · May 5, 2006

Like I mentioned earlier it seems that there's a huge discrepency from unit to unit.... I do think that retaining nurses would make a huge difference in the "shortage" discussed. I also think that maybe pediatrics doesn't see a shortage as often as other areas because it is one of those specialties that has a lot of nurses who really love what they're doing.

Nurses Day is tomorrow -- what have or what will your units and facilities be doing to celebrate? :nurse:

neonurse18 · May 5, 2006

I must say NICU nurses also love what they do!

Maybe the unit I currently work in we have a lot of nurses who have been in the NICU for 20+ years, maybe that's why they are burnt out. Also we have went through a lot of change lately, new computerized charting, new JACHO requirements, mandatory meetings, mandatory inservices, etc.

As for nurses week, I'm not even sure what our unit is doing. We often don't find out these things until the last minute. They usually provide us with lunch one of the days & give away door prizes.

Happy Nurses Day!

nursfrmjmu · May 6, 2006

In our gen. peds floor, even if there are enough nurses according to the staffing needs, it still feels like there's a shortage. I have to agree with wells126 that the kids keep coming in sicker and sicker. We are the only level one trauma center in So. AZ and so our census never seems to drop so low that someone is being called off on a daily basis. The summer brings in lots of traumas and accidental injuries. For nurse's week our hospital has something planned daily: breakfast served by unit managers, prizes, paid dinner one night, singing telegrams and massages...lots of stuff!

Rosey88 · May 6, 2006

I would not consider becoming a salaried worker. I think that generally salaried workers end up putting in more time for less money.

If our pt census is low, then a nurse is ussually placed on call or called off at the last minute. This can be very frustrating, especially if you are low on paid time off. The hospital has some resouces when a nurse calls in sick; we have a float pool of nurses who can work on several different units.

nurselittlek · May 7, 2006

Rather then start a new thread I've decided to summarize this past week's discussion and then post the question for week 2.

During the last week it was pointed out that the nursing shortage is felt by almost everyone and that recognition programs are important when it comes to retention. In addition most responses explained that they would not be salaried and the current system of on-call works for the unit. There was also some discussion about nursing students not being well received by nurses, which I think all of us have seen at one point including the relationship between junior and more senior RNs. The other topic discussed was the need to fully recognize the different levels of RN status and the reference of "crabs in a barrel"

For week 2 we'll talk about support systems. Many studies conducted on stress and burnout among nurses have found that a lack of social support adds to reported stress. Social support includes such factors as family, church affiliation, social contacts, and co-workers. Please consider these questions and comment...

1) What type of support systems do you have available to you?

2) Are there some social supports that could be more supportive?

3) Do you think that having a good social support decreases work related stress and burnout?

4) Do you think RN's are good at asking for help or admitting that they are stressed or burned out? If no, then why?

5) How can someone increase their social support systems in every day life?

mimin · May 9, 2006

Generally,its other friends I have in Nursing that I help "destress" with.I dont find that some of my non nursing friends understand otherwise.I do think a good support helps decrease both.I sometimes feel that Nurses dont ask for help...some are afraid that it means we arent doing our job.

Rosey88 · May 9, 2006

My support systems include my family and friends. I live with my younger sister. She is a great source of support in my life. My parents and older brother also live in Tucson. One thing I struggle with working nights is spending time with my friends. I feel like I sleep most of the day and then am up very late even on my nights off. It gets lonely being awake when the rest of the world is sleeping.

I do think that having a good social support system decreases work related stress and burnout. I know if something outside of work is stressing me out, that it reflects in my abilites to cope at work. I also think I am not as fast at completing tasks if I am stressed out.

Nursing is a "helping" profession. I think that as a nurse, I am in the habbit of making sure other people's needs are met. I am not always as good at ensuring I get what I need. I am getting better at admitting when I am feeling overwhelmed and asking for assistance.

It is hard for me to think of ways one can increase their support system. What works for me is knowing who I can go to for what. For example, I have friends that I can call up and say to, "I need to have some fun... lets go to the movies." Or other friends I can call and talk to when I am sad or worried.

nurselittlek · May 10, 2006

Support systems are so different for each person. I agree that it might be harder to find a good system outside of work when someone works the night shift -- I really hadn't thought about that (ignorance on my part....)

I also agree that sometimes its hard to talk to non-medical people about work because what we do is so different from what others do...:monkeydance:

mimin · May 11, 2006

I know sometimes its hard for my family to 'understand' when I come home upset,because an infant has died-its sometimes hard to 'leave it at work'.My mom seemed to think that all the patients in the NICU were big,term or close to term babies....and not babies that weighed 15 ounces.even when I showed her the unit I worked in in Chicago-I purposely tried to show her the sickest babies...still didnt seem to make her understand.So,sometimes its just easier to 'sound off' on friends that are in the same situation that you are working in.

nursfrmjmu · May 11, 2006

The support systems that are available to me are my boyfriend. My friends are people I work with, so it's also very easy to talk to them about what may be stressing me out. My non nursing friends ask me lots of questions, but as stated before, it's hard to vent to them b/c they don't understand. My family is all on the east coast, but I frequently call my mom who is also an RN. I think having good social support is important in destressing, but it's not the only way and may not be the most effective. Sometimes, I find that by talking about work related stressors with coworkers and colleagues I can get more stressed out because I may find more issues than originally thought. I think that many RN's are martyrs and may not ask for help with work related stress until it becomes very overwhelming.