Nurses’ mental and physical exhaustion at work is a real prevalent problem around the world. A recent article titled “The Nurse Bombarded, Consumed and Vulnerable: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Mental Health Nurses’ Self-Care at Work” was written by O’Malley et al., a faculty of nursing and midwifery nurses in Wales, Australia. Although the paper was written in a different country, it shows the perceived reality of nurses worldwide, including in the United States of America. Nurses at work were already experiencing burnout, but the COVID pandemic worsened the matter.
The drastic shifts in the healthcare sphere made it challenging to retain qualified nursing specialists. Additionally, it severely affected the involvement of newly graduated nurses in the facilities. The tremendous impact of nursing burnout has become a subject of great interest. This is because more nurses are leaving their positions due to the increasing stress, fatigue, and trauma they face in difficult situations in their practice (Maben et al., 2022).
Despite the consequences of losing nurses, this topic has been covered very little in recent research (O’Malley et al., 2022). This aspect underscores the need to pay closer attention to the topic at hand, as healthcare is an integral part of people’s lives, and it is vital to care for those working in this field.
Nursing retention in ample medical facilities, such as level-one hospitals, is becoming a severe and concerning problem. The article by O’Malley et al. defines nurses who dedicate themselves to their work every day in the present day. It is a personal matter that exists in the current healthcare workplace. Every day, as a nurse, you only want to be safe and helpful to people in need. Unfortunately, the days when you had time to speak with your patients and close the loop on education are slim to none. The emergency healthcare department has become the primary care office for a large population with serious diseases.
Nurses are the frontline team that helps and takes care of patients in the emergency department, as they spend a great deal of time with them. Doctors, physician assistants, or nurse practitioners are the leading support in patient treatment. However, this aspect also includes the need to be the educator, mentor, listener, serving medications, discharge planner, caregiver to an older population, and general helper. To fulfill all the required duties, nurses are always on the go, often forgetting to care for themselves.
Medical professionals have limited time to fulfill basic needs, such as lunch or bathroom breaks. They also have no time to decompress during the 12-hour shifts, when a nurse working in the emergency room or on the medical floor has to care for up to 5 patients simultaneously. The physical burden is, no doubt, great, but the emotional burden is even greater and unimaginable to every nurse discipline.
Articles, such as those by O’Malley et al., are a vital tool for raising awareness among nurses and society at large. A significant number of studies highlight the problems of retention, burnout, and mental exhaustion among nurses. The American Nurses Association (n.d.) advocates for nurses’ rights and well-being and is considered the only hope for these specialists.
As the American Nurses Association implements policies and strategies to help, hospitals nationwide have different regulations for nursing duties. These differences caused nurses to march to the U.S. Capital in 2022 complained about hospital abuse, but little had changed afterward (Minnie, 2022). Therefore, the subject discussed is broad and difficult to reconcile, but nurses are critical to communities. If the local hospitals do not find a solution, they will suffer the consequences of their well-placed luxuries.
Researching this topic allowed me to reflect on my skills. This aspect involves identifying the problem, searching for relevant information, and analyzing the articles. In addition, I realized the value of considering essential components, such as genre and audience awareness, to create a more tailored approach. It is particularly important because it helps convey the main message more effectively.
References
American Nurse Association. (n.d.). Nurse retention strategies: How to combat nurse turnover.
Maben, J., Conolly, A., Abrams, R., Rowland, E., Harris, R., Kelly, D., Kent, B., & Couper, K. (2022). ‘You can’t walk through water without getting wet’ UK nurses’ distress and psychological health needs during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal interview study. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 131.
Minnie, N. (2022). Nurses march on capital demanding reforms to protect themselves and patients. ABC News.
O’Malley, M., O’ Mahony, J., Mulcahy, H., & Happell, B. (2022). The nurse bombarded, consumed and vulnerable: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of mental health nurses’ self-care at work. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 31(1), pp. 66-76.