Issues in Nursing
Increased levels of stress among the nurses have heightened cases of burnout among the nurses. Workplace stress is considered to be among the leading causes of burnout among employees. According to Riethof (2019), Freudenberger coined the term burnout in 1974 to refer to the way employees react to enduring work-related stress. Burnout is characterized by lowered productivity, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization (Gnerre et al., 2017). Nurses are exhibiting symptoms of decreased productivity, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization now than ever. The main reason for increased burnout among the nurses could be attributed to work stress that results from an imbalance between work life and family life, as well as the constantly changing roles of nurses. The nursing profession is predominated by females. Therefore, the increased cases of burnout among the nurses could be due to the multiple roles that nurses, especially the female workers, perform. It is hard to strike a balance between work responsibilities and family duties. Consequently, a nurse would be discouraged and worn-out if either work or family does not function as expected, hence exhibit symptoms of burnout syndrome such as emotional exhaustion and reduced productivity. Besides, the changing roles in nursing have contributed to high cases of burnout. Nurses are now charged with more responsibilities than ever which is increasing work-related stress. High demands in the workplace lead to stress. Consequently, nurses suffer burnout while trying to cope with stress.
Over time, the roles of nurses in society have changed thus transforming nurses from simply caregivers to agents of social change in society. Social change refers to the alterations that occur in human relationships and interactions that affect social and cultural institutions (MacDonald, De Zylva, McAllister, & Brien, 2018). Therefore, nursing practitioners could positively impact human interactions and relationships in society through their role of advocacy. Advocacy is core in nursing since it helps in promoting ethics in the practice. Nurses could make the lives of patients and their families better by solving their challenges during and after hospitalization. The healthcare system has become more complex and fragmented hence most patients lack important information regarding access to quality care. Therefore, a nurse could promote social change by providing essential information regarding access to quality care. Consequently, nurses will have enhanced social change since challenged patients would become more informed and start accessing quality care. Nursing advocacy also helps in promoting a lasting nurse-patient relationship (Oliveira & Tariman, 2017). Patients would start trusting the nurses more through their advocacy roles. This way, nurses will have made society a better place by positively improving the relationship between nurses and patients, and passing vital health care information.
References
Gnerre, P., Rivetti, C., Rossi, A. P., Tesei, L., Montemurro, D., & Nardi, R. (2017). Work stress and burnout among physicians and nurses in Internal and Emergency Departments. Italian Journal of Medicine, 11(2), 151-158.
MacDonald, K., De Zylva, J., McAllister, M., & Brien, D. L. (2018). Heroism and nursing: A thematic review of the literature. Nurse education today, 68, 134-140. Retrieved January 14, 2021, https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Margaret_Mcallister2/publication/325664214_Heroism_and_nursing_A_thematic_review_of_the_literature/links/5ecef480299bf1c67d23b4ec/Heroism-and-nursing-A-thematic-review-of-the-literature.pdf/
Oliveira, C., & Tariman, J. D. (2017). Barriers to the patient advocacy role: An integrative review of the literature. Journal of Nursing Practice Applications & Reviews of Research, 7(2), 7-12. Retrieved January 14, 2021, from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6989/d252691b3cc86b2e20b319cfc10ec6121913.pdf#page=9/
Riethof, N. (2019). Burnout syndrome and Logotherapy: Logotherapy as useful conceptual framework for explanation and prevention of burnout. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 10, 382. Retrieved January 14, 2021, from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00382/full/
