A Web-Based System as the Best Intervention for Nurses Essay

Introduction

The nursing profession is intrinsically distressing making stress management a priority. Hospitals and nurses need to take the initiative to prevent or reduce burnout arising from pressures and uncontrolled stressors at the workplace. Literature on the subject indicates that effective stress management results in reduced burnout (Shamar & Kumar, 2018). Effective stress management leads to improved performance at work and ensures well-being. The stakeholders affected in this matter include nursing practitioners, patients, decision-makers, and the community at large. This presentation recommends a web-based system as the best intervention to help nurses effectively manage and cope with stressors in their line of duty.

Practice Issue: Burnout

Burnout has become prevalent

among health workers but it’s mostly inexperienced nurses. Burnout is defined as “chronic related stress within the workplace.” (Baranda, 2017). Nurses work in stressful work environment settings that call for not just physical strength, but also emotional, mental, and even spiritual strength, thus the nursing profession is at high risk for burnout. The substantial degrees of stress and feeling overpowered lead to bad quality in the long run, diminished work fulfillment, and can cause an overall negative perception of the field (Baranda, 2017) Due to the expanding prevalence of nursing burnout, there is an urgent need for intervention to reduce nursing burnout levels.

Picot Question

Burnout is particularly an issue of concern to nursing practitioners as it has negative implications for the well-being and the general performance of nurse practitioners (Baranda, 2017). Apart from nurses, burnout compromises the level of patient care, the hospital, and the families of the affected individuals. A web-based intervention is recommended to help nurses manage stress and prevent burnout. Alternatively, there is a personalized intervention that involves face-to-face interaction with nurses. It is, however, not a viable choice considering the nature of the profession and the large population in the field. The outcome will be measured by the full Nursing Stress Scale which includes various symptoms of stress.

Literature Review

There is available literature on burnout, its impact on the nursing profession, and the various ways and strategies to prevent and effectively manage burnout. To find credible and relevant articles, the researcher utilized several sources including the library and the internet. The keywords used to find relevant articles for the research topic included “burnout in nursing” and stress management and prevention.” The articles were filtered to only include recent articles published in the past 10 years to capture the recent findings and evidence of best practices on the subject of burnout in nursing.

Causes of Burnout

The ratio of nurses in the country is quite low leading to a humongous workload for nurses in the profession. Kowalczuk et al., (2020) say that numerous sources cite shifts at workplaces, death of patients which leads to emotional strain, unbearable workloads, feelings of powerlessness, unfriendly management styles, and harsh working environment as causes of burnout in nurses. In addition, long working hours and lack of sleep are due to the high demand for the various services offered by nurses. The nursing profession is stressful when compared to other professions. This is because they deal with difficult situations that cause them immense stress regularly (The University of St Augustine for health sciences, 2020).

Effects of Burnout

Nurses are a very important component of the healthcare system due to their undeniable positive contribution toward the well-being and recovery of patients. However, the nature of this profession makes nurses prone to stress and eventually burnout. Nursing is a high-stress profession, and increased stress levels are linked to poor health and absenteeism among nurses. After analysis of relevant literature, burnout is the main problem affecting the performance of nurses. According to (Aryankhesal et al.(2019), burnout leads to reduced performance quality not only by nurses but also by all hospital staff. The physical and mental demands of the profession make nurses stressed. Shamar and Kumar (2018) mention that stress can cause less productivity while at work, which includes prescription errors and lack of coordination hence compromising the quality of service.

Interventions

Nursing is a high-stress career that is both emotionally and physically exhausting, with a high rate of burnout. (Branda, 2017). Apart from personal detrimental effects associated with stress, poor health, and the general well-being of the nurses, burnout is cited as a major cause of attrition and low admissions into the nursing profession. Owing to the important role played by nurses in the healthcare system, an effective intervention method is required to address the issue as a matter of priority. There are two types of intervention in-person intervention and web-based interventions. Due to the numerous cases and significant levels of burnout that could occur at any time, web-based interventions can be more suitable in stress management and addressing the burnout problem among nurses.

Recommendation

The BREATHE is a stress management method and created exclusively for nurses to provide them with necessary information, techniques, and resources to properly manage the numerous stresses that are unavoidable in their line of work (Dutton and Kozachik, 2020). According to a study on the BREATHE program, nurses who had access to it saw significant improvements in apparent nursing-related stress as well as stress markers on the Nursing Stress Scale (Dutton and Kozachik, 2020). The program gives a system to medical caretakers to get to the mediation now and again and places advantageous to their occupation and their busy schedules. The intervention is accessible to every nurse, and it requires an Internet connection and a connecting device to participate in stress management sessions.

Impacted Stakeholders

The research in the recent past has majorly been to investigate how various policies and work-related components impact the performance of nurses and well-being. Literature focuses on the existing relationships between health institution variables and the resulting impact including quality of care, the safety of patients under caregiver care, ill-health, absenteeism, retention, and job dissatisfaction (Dang and Dearholt, 2018; Branda, 2017). Burnout is often cited as being an “outcome” of practicing nursing. Its effects are, however, not just personal but affect the wider environment. The wider environment in this context, making up of the stakeholders, therefore, include the individual, the organization, and their patients (Aryankhesal et al., 2019). Effective management of burnout has been associated with positive outcomes and performance hence the need for effective intervention methods to lower or prevent levels of burnout among nurses.

Analysis of the Recommendation

The BREATHE is an evidence-based solution that can help nurses to manage stress levels. The program includes sections on how stress affects the body, assessing stress and identifying stressors, practical stress management tools addressing changing one’s views of stressors, changing one’s response to stressors, or changing the stressful situation, promoting effective communication skills, taking time to grieve, and depression and anxiety. It was influenced by feedback from nurses in focus groups and feasibility tests. (Dutton and Kozachik, 2020) The only resources needed are the gargets to access the internet, and subscription to the program. On effectiveness of the program, literature indicates that it results in reduction of burnout among users leading to the well being and improved performance at work.

Conclusion

Nurses are constantly working in stressful work environment that not only call for physical strength but also emotional, mental, and even spiritual strength. Due to these overwhelming demands, the nursing professions are at high risk for burnout hence the need for effective stress management. Effective stress management in the nursing profession leads to reduction or rather prevention of instances of burnout leading to improvement in staffing levels and enhancing job performance. The BREATHE is a web-based stress management system, recommended for nurses due to its effectiveness in managing burnout as indicated by literature and feasibility studies.

References

Aryankhesal, A., Mohammadibakhsh, R., Hamidi, Y., Alidoost, S., Behzadifar, M., Sohrabi, R., & Farhadi, Z. (2019). Interventions on reducing burnout in physicians and nurses: A systematic review. Medical Journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 33, 77. Web.

Baranda,M. (2017).Nurse burnout and the effects of coping and stress management Senior Research Projects. 190. Web.

Dang, D., & Dearholt, S. (2018). Supplemental materials for Johns Hopkins Nursing evidence-based practice: model and guidelines. Sigma Theta Tau International.

Dutton, S., & Kozachik, S. L. (2020). Evaluating the outcomes of a web‐based stress management program for nurses and nursing assistants. Worldviews on Evidence‐Based Nursing, 17(1), 32-38.

Kowalczuk, K., Krajewska-Kułak, E., & Sobolewski, M. (2020). Working excessively and burnout among nurses in the context of sick leaves. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 285.

Sharma,P. & Kumar,M.(2018 ).Managing stress in Nursing profession, International Journal of Current Research, 10, (05), 69740-69744.

The University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences (2020). Nurse burnout: risks, causes, and precautions for nurses, Web.