Specific forms of stress are peculiar to any occupation, but exposure to various stressors in the healthcare field is especially dangerous and devastating. In the nursing profession, the daily stress of multitasking and the pressure of responsibility for patient outcomes are prominent. They are further exacerbated by exposure to human suffering and death and the need for staying emotionally supportive when necessary (Jennings, 2008). High levels of workplace stress emerge from a combination of various contributing and influencing factors that range from organizational processes and workloads to dealing with patients with complex needs. As per survey data from Statistics Canada, around 54% of Canadian nurses report the need to stay after the end of their shift to complete all tasks (Stelnicki et al., 2021). Also, more than 60% of respondents report working during breaks, which is indicative of severe barriers to physical and emotional recovery from effort-intensive activities (Stelnicki et al., 2021). With that in mind, as a multi-component issue, the presence of stressors affecting nurses remains a crucial challenge for Canadian healthcare providers.
Workplace Stressors: The Issue’s Direction and Connections to Other Trends
Concerning the trend’s direction, the prevalence of workplace stressors affecting Canada’s nursing workforce has increased recently. From earlier research, it follows that nurses’ stress has been growing since the middle of the 1980s due to healthcare services’ active digitalization and increasing care costs (Jennings, 2008). The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the already significant burnout scores in Canadian nurses and other providers (Canadian Institute for Health Information, 2021; Maunder et al., 2021). In the early spring of 2021, the prevalence of severe burnout cases in Canadian healthcare professionals exceeded 60%, with nurses in ICU and ED settings experiencing the highest risks (Maunder et al., 2021). Being caused by stress, the burnout syndrome in nurses is positively correlated with workforce turnover rates, absenteeism, and job leaving intentions (Maunder et al., 2021). The abovementioned links are indicative of significant risks to maintaining safe nurse-patient ratios and avoiding excessive workloads on the existing workforce, so addressing workplace stressors affecting nurses is a priority area for Canada’s healthcare system. As the discussion illustrates, workplace stress is inextricably connected with other large-scale issues and trends, such as disease epidemics and nursing shortages.
Influences on the Nurse and Nursing Care
The issue’s negative impacts on nurses and nursing care represent another point for discussion. At an individual level, exposure to unbearable workplace stress contributes to nurses’ mental health deficiencies, thus affecting personal satisfaction with life. Based on a correlation study in more than 7,300 Canadian nurses, the presence of clinical levels of burnout increases the likelihood of screening positive for several conditions (Stelnicki et al., 2021). Among them are major depressive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and anxiety and panic disorders, each of which exacerbates individual workplace productivity and life satisfaction in unique ways (Stelnicki et al., 2021). The trend can have implications for nurse leaders, including the difficulty of working with unmotivated teams and conflict management. Task distribution within teams could also become an issue if stress levels are increasingly high. Exhaustion and mental health issues associated with stress reduce the quality of nursing care by challenging safety and positive nurse-patient interactions. Stress promotes the nurse’s emotional withdrawal from the patient and the increased prevalence of forgetfulness and care or medication administration errors (Carvalho et al., 2019). These factors make the delivery of safe and effective care more complicated.
References
Canadian Institute for Health Information. (2021). Overview: COVID-19’s impact on health care systems. Web.
Carvalho, D. P. D., Rocha, L. P., Pinho, E. C. D., Tomaschewski-Barlem, J. G., Barlem, E. L. D., & Goulart, L. S. (2019). Workloads and burnout of nursing workers.Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem, 72, 1435-1441. Web.
Jennings, B. M. (2008). Work stress and burnout among nurses: Role of the work environment and working conditions. In R. G. Hughes (Ed.), Patient safety and quality: An evidence-based handbook for nurses (Vol. 2, pp. 138-158). Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Maunder, R. G., Heeney, N. D., Strudwick, G., Shin, H. D., O’Neil, B., Young, N., Jeffs, J. P., Barrett, K., Bodmer, N. S., Born, K. B., Hopkins, J., Juni, P., Perkhun, A., Price, D. J., Razak, F., Mushquash, C. J., & Mah, L. (2021). Burnout in hospital-based healthcare workers during COVID-19.Science Briefs of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, 2, 1-22. Web.
Stelnicki, A. M., Jamshidi, L., Angehrn, A., Hadjistavropoulos, H. D., & Carleton, R. N. (2021). Associations between burnout and mental disorder symptoms among nurses in Canada.Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, 53(3), 254-263. Web.