Stress In Nursing Students

Stress, Go Away On September 29, 2016, a female student nurse from San Joaquin Delta College took a “Life Stress Test,” a health tool that calculates stress level based a person’s life experiences in the last year. According to Health Central, a score of 150 or more in the “Life Stress Test” means that a person has a “50-50 chance of developing an illness,” and a score of 300 or more means a person has “90% chance of developing an illness” (2016). After the student nurse took the test which consisted of eight life event categories, she had found out that there is a 50-50 chance or moderate risk for her to develop an illness because she scored 168. Although she was not surprised on her stress score due to the workload of being a nursing student,

In the twenty-first century, young students are feeling the pressure of society’s strenuous demands more than ever, especially in the academic environment. Many of these arduous pressures include maintaining satisfactory grades, acquiring high standardized test scores, and dealing with newly-developed friendships and relationships. As a result of an excessive amount of pressure, stress develops. According to Learn Psychology, a credible and informative psychology organization, “Stress is the body’s reaction to a challenge.” Stress can be both beneficial and detrimental. Learn Psychology, claims “Stress produces a physiological reaction in your body. Hormones are released, which results in physical manifestations of stress...This process is

The strains on the healthcare field can eventually lead to physical,mental and emotional exhaustion also known as burnout. As caretakers,educators,and lifelines, nurses are responsible for the many roles they carry as they continue to give care to patients day in and day out. One of the most common reasons nurses are stressed is the patient to nurse ratio. For instance, a nurse may be taking care of 6 patients when he or she should only be taking care of 4.

Stress involves interaction of the person and environment. To quote a definition: “Stress is an adaptive response to an external situation that results in physical, psychological and / or behavioural deviations for organizational participants” (Luthans, 1998). Stress has generally been viewed as a set of neurological and physiological reactions that serves an adaptive function (Franken, 1994). Traditionally, stress research has been oriented toward studies involving the body's reaction to stress and the cognitive processes that influence the perception of stress. However, social perspectives of the stress response have noted that different people experiencing similar life conditions are not necessarily affected in the same manner (Pearlin, 1982).

Being a nurse is one of the hardest jobs, including one of the lowest paying for the workload nurses take on. Nurses go through years of schooling, and many nurses often end up disliking their chosen profession. There seems to always be a shortage of nurses so many nurses are more than often overworked and underpaid. Having another individual’s health hang in your balance can cause mental and physical exhaustion which can eventually lead to nurse burnout. Many nurses that work in high-stress environments and not having the proper training or enough assistance can lead to serious mistakes in patient care.

(Abdulla, Al-Qahtani, & Al-Kuwari, 2011). One study revealed that burnout syndrome is common among critical care nurses, because they work with more critical and traumatic patients burnout syndrome is not only affect the nurse but extend to their quality of care that delivered for their patient.(Moss, Good, Gozal, Kleinpell, & Sessler., 2016). Organizational and environment factors such as excessive workload, staffing shortage, lack of empowerment lead to burnout which compromise nurse’s ability to provide high quality care. ( McHugh, Kutney, Cimiotti, Sloane, & Aiken., 2011). Burnout ,quality of care and patients outcome Different studies have explained the relation between burnout syndrome, stress in work environment ,and patients satisfaction which assessed the quality of nursing care provided, the high quality care the more patient satisfaction.

Goal(s): Students will be able to understand the concept of stress and learn different ways in order to deal with it. Objective(s): Students will be able to evaluate effective strategies for dealing with stress and apply stress-management methods to manage personal stressors. Academic Language: • Guided Imagery; A gentle but powerful technique that focuses and directs the imagination in positive ways • Deep Breathing • Stressor; A thought or situation either negative or positive that causes stress • Endorphins;

Burnout is classified viewed in three phases. The first phase of burnout is the arousal phase. The nurse shows anxiety, insomnia, forgetfulness, inability to concentrate, feelings of beings overwhelmed, frustration, sadness, and new physical symptoms, such as headaches and stomach problems. If the nurse does not recognize that these symptoms require intervention, the second phase is energy conservation. In this phase, the nurse starts to call in sick to work; o she may be chronically late getting to duty. Deadlines are not met, a cynical or resentful attitude develops, a persistent sense of fatigue pervades both are the nurse’s personal and professional’s life.

Application of Kanter’s Theory in Reducing Work Stress and Burnout in Nursing Due to the rapidly changing health care system and the reduction of resources, nursing demands are greater which has led to work related stress and ultimately nursing burnout. (Hayes, Douglas, & Bonner, 2014; Kushner & Ruffin, 2015; Laschinger et al., 2003; Slatten, Carson & Carson, 2011). Nursing burnout impacts both the performance and profitability of a healthcare organization in addition to adversely affecting patient outcomes (Jennings, 2008; Kushner & Ruffin, 2015; Laschinger et al., 2003). Ordinarily for nurses, making a difference by caring for and helping others is gratifying (Hayes et al., 2014; Slatten et al., 2011); however nurses have had to endeavor several unfavorable circumstances such as long work hours, compassion fatigue, physical labor, human adversities, staffing shortages, lack of breaks, advanced technology, and poor interpersonal work relationships (Hayes et al., 2014; Jennings, 2008; Slatten et al., 2011); thus the effects of sustained exposure to increasingly demanding professional work conditions brought on by doubt and concern results in decreased nursing satisfaction, lack of perceived support, psychological difficulties such as demoralization,

According to the data from Health Resources and Services Administration Bureau of Health Professions (2013), there were 2.8 million Registered Nurses (RNs) and 690,000 Licensed Practice Nurses (LPNs) were working in the period from 2008-2010, in the United States. The nursing workforce grew substantially in 2000s, by RNs growing by more than 24.1 percent and LPNs by more than 15.5 percent. The population of nurses are facing multiple challenges at the workplace, such as shortage in staffing, nurse turnover, increased workload, long working hours, poor relationship with co-workers, lack of support from the management, and eventually these challenges create high level of nurse burnout. It is estimated that job- related burnout measure using the Maslach Burnout inventory – Human Services Survey, 36.5 % of nurses having high level of burnout. The researchers at the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Nursing, estimates if nurse burnout reduces by 10 %, could prevent thousands of hospital acquired infections and reduce the health care expense (Potera, 2012).

Enhancing Professional Quality of Life. New York: Springer Publishing Company. I retrieved this eBook from the Kaplan Library. It contains a plethora of information for aspiring nurses and nurses currently employed. This source will support my thesis by discussing the psychological and physiological stress nurses are placed under every day.

The impact of nurse fatigue resulting from extended work hours, sleeplessness and accepting extra assignments can lead to numerous problems; some of these problems include but not limited to the following; inability to focus, reduced motivation, impaired or lack of communication, delayed reaction time to a critical event that can occur, example, code call. Personal injury can occur that poses an occupational hazard for nurses since serious injuries can occur of varying degree. The nurses’ duty can be physically demanding which can have a negative effect on patient safety and workforce health (Repique,

Patient care is the biggest priority of the job so this stressor is very subjective on how heavily it impacts the nature of the job. So outside of patient care, the occupational stressors that were recognized by nurse anesthetists were fatigue, interpersonal relationships, attitude of medical doctors, and the inadequate staffing (Schoo, Sigler, 2010,

Nurses experienced unsatisfied work environment, fatigue, burnout and increased in career change leading to the nursing

Stress can be something that causes strong feelings of worry or anxiety. “Stress can be a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation” (Merriam-Webster, 2014) A person experiences stress “when a demand exceeds that person’s coping abilities, resulting in reactions such as disturbances of cognition, emotion and behavior” (Huether & McCance, 2012, p. 208) Stress is “a reaction to stressful situations at work that leads to a physiological response manifested by psychosomatic symptoms such as hypertension and headache” (Toh, Ang, & Devi, 2012, p. 127). Stress occurs when the situational demands outpace the individual’s ability to