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Nursing Management and Professional Concepts 2e: 12.2 Stress in the Health Care System

Nursing Management and Professional Concepts 2e
12.2 Stress in the Health Care System
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table of contents
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Table Of Contents
  5. Introduction
  6. Preface
  7. Standards and Conceptual Approach
  8. Chapter 1 - Overview of Management and Professional Issues
    1. 1.1 Overview
  9. Chapter 2 - Prioritization
    1. 2.1 Prioritization Introduction
    2. 2.2 Tenets of Prioritization
    3. 2.3 Tools for Prioritizing
    4. 2.4 Critical Thinking and Clinical Reasoning
    5. 2.5 Time Management
    6. 2.6 Spotlight Application
    7. 2.7 Learning Activities
    8. II Glossary
  10. Chapter 3 - Delegation and Supervision
    1. 3.1 Delegation & Supervision Introduction
    2. 3.2 Communication
    3. 3.3 Assignment
    4. 3.4 Delegation
    5. 3.5 Supervision
    6. 3.6 Spotlight Application
    7. 3.7 Learning Activities
    8. III Glossary
  11. Chapter 4 - Leadership and Management
    1. 4.1 Leadership & Management Introduction
    2. 4.2 Basic Concepts
    3. 4.3 Implementing Change
    4. 4.4 Spotlight Application
    5. 4.5 Learning Activities
    6. IV Glossary
  12. Chapter 5 - Legal Implications
    1. 5.1 Legal Implications Introduction
    2. 5.2 Understanding the Legal System
    3. 5.3 Professional Liability and Your Nursing License
    4. 5.4 Frequent Allegations and SBON Investigations
    5. 5.5 Protecting Your Nursing License
    6. 5.6 Other Legal Issues
    7. 5.7 Spotlight Application
    8. 5.8 Learning Activities
    9. V Glossary
  13. Chapter 6 - Ethical Practice
    1. 6.1 Ethical Practice Introduction
    2. 6.2 Basic Ethical Concepts
    3. 6.3 Ethical Dilemmas
    4. 6.4 Ethics Committees
    5. 6.5 Ethics and the Nursing Student
    6. 6.6 Spotlight Application
    7. 6.7 Learning Activities
    8. VI Glossary
  14. Chapter 7 - Collaboration Within the Interprofessional Team
    1. 7.1 Collaboration Within the Interprofessional Team Introduction
    2. 7.2 IPEC Core Competencies
    3. 7.3 Values and Ethics for Interprofessional Practice
    4. 7.4 Roles and Responsibililites of Health Care Professionals
    5. 7.5 Interprofessional Communication
    6. 7.6 Teams and Teamwork
    7. 7.7 Conflict Resolution
    8. 7.8 Nursing Responsibilities in Interprofessional Collaborative Practice
    9. 7.9 Spotlight Application
    10. 7.10 Learning Activities
    11. VII Glossary
  15. Chapter 8 - Health Care Economics
    1. 8.1 Health Care Economics Introduction
    2. 8.2 Trends Related to Increased Health Care Costs
    3. 8.3 Health Care Funding
    4. 8.4 Health Care Reimbursement Models
    5. 8.5 Budgets and Staffing
    6. 8.6 Resource Stewardship and Case Management
    7. 8.7 Spotlight Application
    8. 8.8 Learning Activities
    9. VIII Glossary
  16. Chapter 9 - Quality and Evidence-Based Practice
    1. 9.1 Quality and Evidence-Based Practice Introduction
    2. 9.2 Quality Care
    3. 9.3 Measuring and Improving Quality
    4. 9.4 Evidence-Based Practice and Research
    5. 9.5 Spotlight Application
    6. 9.6 Learning Activities
    7. IX Glossary
  17. Chapter 10 - Advocacy
    1. 10.1 Advocacy Introduction
    2. 10.2 Basic Advocacy Concepts
    3. 10.3 Individual and Interpersonal Advocacy
    4. 10.4 Community and Organization Advocacy
    5. 10.5 Policy Advocacy
    6. 10.6 Steps to Becoming an Advocate
    7. 10.7 QSEN: Advocating for Patient Safety and Quality Care in Nursing Education
    8. 10.8 Spotlight Application
    9. 10.9 Learning Activities
    10. X Glossary
  18. Chapter 11 - Preparation for the RN Role
    1. 11.1 Preparation for the RN Role Introduction
    2. 11.2 Preparing for the NCLEX
    3. 11.3 Obtaining Your Nursing License
    4. 11.4 Applying for a Nursing Position
    5. 11.5 Transitioning to the RN Role
    6. 11.6 Lifelong Learner
    7. 11.7 Spotlight Application
    8. 11.8 Learning Activities
    9. XI Glossary
  19. Chapter 12 - Burnout and Self-Care
    1. 12.1 Burnout & Self-Care Introduction
    2. 12.2 Stress in the Health Care System
    3. 12.3 Identifying Stress in Self
    4. 12.4 Acknowledging Stress in Others
    5. 12.5 Organizational Stress & Retention Cycle
    6. 12.6 Mitigating Stress With Self-Care
    7. 12.7 Emerging Models
    8. 12.8 Spotlight Application
    9. 12.9 Learning Activities
    10. XII Glossary
  20. Answer Keys
    1. Chapter 1
    2. Chapter 2
    3. Chapter 3
    4. Chapter 4
    5. Chapter 5
    6. Chapter 6
    7. Chapter 7
    8. Chapter 8
    9. Chapter 9
    10. Chapter 10
    11. Chapter 11
    12. Chapter 12
  21. Appendix: Classroom Activities
  22. Master Glossary

12.2 Stress in the Health Care System

Stress within any health care profession occurs as a result of the challenging and dynamic conditions experienced in day-to-day work. See Figure 12.1[1] for an illustration of stress in a health care environment. Nurses and health care professionals are taxed with supporting clients and families in times of extensive life stress and change. Individuals who seek out care often experience rapid life changes as the result of a new diagnosis, altered body function, death of a family member, or significant mental distress. Nurses are frontline staff members who help clients and their families navigate these health stressors. It can be difficult to provide frontline support without taking on some of the stress encountered. As clients and families navigate their feelings of fear, frustration, anxiety, and anger, nurses are often the support members who first hear and react to these feelings. It is important to recognize the constant barrage of these emotions can take a toll, and it is challenging to not assume this emotional burden.

Photo showing medical personnel in a stressful health care enivronment
Figure 12.1 Stress in the Health Care Environment

In addition to the emotional burden of providing support for multiple clients and their family members, nurses experience a variety of other stressors inherent to the health care environment itself. These stressors include issues such as environmental stress, increased workload, changing practice conditions, lack of resources, communication barriers, unfavorable working conditions, frequency of engagement with a variety of personnel, challenges in care coordination, workplace violence, alarm fatigue, and staff turnover. Research has identified that the variety of stressors experienced by nursing staff result in inherently greater levels of stress than that experienced in the wider working population.[2] Therefore, nurses must acknowledge the variety of stressors they encounter within the profession and identify strategies to mitigate these forces.

Nursing is charged with emotional situations and topics even on days when no other situational stressors have significant impact. One cannot participate in the significant conversations that accompany health care decision-making, provide client education, and promote individual coping without acknowledging these conversations are more impactful than deciding, “What should we make for dinner?” By acknowledging this inherent job stress, nurses recognize that eliminating stress within the profession is not possible. There will always be a level of stress that accompanies the health care environment, and this underscores the importance of stress identification, mitigation, and incorporation of stress-reduction strategies.[3]

  1. “Emergency_medicine_simulation_training_exercise_in_Balad%2C_Iraq.jpg” by Robert Couse-Baker is licensed under CC BY 2.0 ↵
  2. Waddill-Goad, S. (2016). Nurse burnout: Combating stress in nursing. Sigma Theta Tau International. ↵
  3. Waddill-Goad, S. (2016). Nurse burnout: Combating stress in nursing. Sigma Theta Tau International. ↵

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