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Importance of work-life balance within the employment
Nurses’ job satisfaction in the work environment
Importance of work-life balance within the employment
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Work-life balance, according to the American Journal of Nursing, is to achieve a harmonious relationship between work and life, ultimately maintaining a well-balanced life in mental, spiritual, physical and emotional health. Without a balance, many nurses today are facing many health issues like burning out, where a nurse may feel a sense of disconnection between their work and personal lives. Factors like economical status, education, family issues and more can certainly drain someone.
I chose this topic for my journey of change because it is ongoing to this day and I strongly feel that it will translate well into my future nursing career. Balance has always been a term I have been unfamiliar with. I like to believe I was brought up in a traditional Asian environment where if it was not pressure given by my parents to maintain outstanding grades, it was my personal life I was trying to improve. I grew up being bullied for my ethnicity and weight, but remained silent and by the time I reached my senior year of high school. I had made a drastic change in my life, which was fitness and making my serendipitous decision to become a registered nurse and ultimately, setting myself on the path to become the strongest version of myself, which is my life-long goal I have created last year to improve and maintain a healthy lifestyle in 4
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Over the course of my journey, I was obsessed with seeing self image and self esteem improvements via fitness. So obsessed that I have placed my education and relationships runner-up to fitness which was my turning point to find balance. In the article, the author states that self-awareness is key. Meaning that one should re-evaluate their lives regularly, adjusting goals, wants and needs. Balance in life should be fun and fulfilling, and by taking this moment to know yourself, balance can be
Mary A. Osborne, a registered nurse said, “Nursing is a rewarding profession that can provide life-long job satisfaction and job security” (Jones 8). A registered nurse (RN) teaches their patients and the public all sorts of different health conditions and practices. They also give tips to the patients’ families and friends on how to support them physically and emotionally (Bureau 1). Registered nurses are employed in many places such as hospitals, schools, offices, homes, military services, and in nursing homes (Minnesota 1). Often in time, RNs don 't work by themselves, they work apart of a team that includes doctors, therapists, of course the patient, and generally their families (Minnesota 1-2). To be successful
Nurse fatigue is a serious topic not only in the nursing profession circles but in the health sector as a whole. The effects of nurse fatigue are serious in a way that the issue can no longer be ignored. As discussed in this paper, it is important for nurses to be aware of the signs of fatigue and take adequate action when it happens. It is also possible for nurses to develop a work ethic that ensures nurses do not reach the point of fatigue
According to Taylor (2008) the definition of nurse is from the meaning of the Latin word nutrix, which means “to nourish”. Nursing has a focus of caring for every patient physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually. To meet the needs of every patient, nurses must take on many roles, but the main role being care giver (Taylor, 2008, p.14). Caring for another person requires many traits, and the most common is compassion. The definition of compassion is “sympathetic consciousness of another’s distress with a desire to alleviate it” (Merriam-Webster dictionary, 2011). Compassion and the desire to nourish may have been deciding factors that would lead one to pursue a career in nursing. Nurses over the span of their career will have extensive exposure to trauma, pain and unfortunate situations. Workplace stressors such as scheduling and increasing workload along with repeated exposure to the hardships of others predisposes caregivers, especially nurses, to develop a unique type of burn out labeled compassion fatigue (Joinson 1992). Compassion fatigue develops when a nurse unintentionally takes on the misfortune, anxiety, pain and trauma of the patients they care for. It is a negative emotional and physical response to the unfortunate situations that can arise in the profession of care giving. The “detrimental effects can include exhaustion, an inability to focus and a decrease in productivity, as well as unhappiness, self-doubt and loss of passion and enthusiasm” (Lester, 2010, p. 11). Compassion fatigue will develop suddenly versus burnout which develops gradually (Boyle, 2011, p. 9). This abrupt onset of symptoms will hinder the nurse’s ability develop a trusting and therapeutic relationship with...
The issues of nursing burnout and compassion fatigue are an important one in part, because of the ongoing nursing shortage across the united states. Per the American colleges of nursing “the U.S. is projected to experience a shortage of Registered Nurses (RN’s) that is expected to intensify as Baby Boomers age and the need for health care grows” (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2017). The ACA fact sheet cites several reasons for this including; the increasing needs of an aging population, healthcare reform, decreased enrollment in nursing programs, shortages of nursing faculty, large portions of working nurses
Burnout in nursing is a convoluted and significant matter that must be acknowledged and addressed to preserve the quality and longevity of the nursing profession. With varying definitions of the term, it becomes important to identify and understand the factors and dynamics that have bearing on the nurse’s intrapersonal beliefs, emotional well-being, and ultimately the patient care they provide. Once these components are recognized, it is just as imperative to offer potential resolutions to meet this challenge. Aside from simple, personal actions that the nurse can take, such as exercise and rest, there are certain measures that if fulfilled by the nursing leadership staff will hold substantial weight when it comes to contending with burnout.
Some of the strategies that can help prevent the high burnout rate among nurses include social and psychological support as well as empowerment. The ability of an organization to retain nurses primarily depends on the creation of an environment conductive to professional autonomy (Hatmaker, 2014, p. 227). Organizations should create an open environment where nurses have an avenue for mutual support. Examples of a program that may result in mutual support among nurses include sharing of workload among team members. Additionally, organizations should create time for social interaction among nursing teams. This can be done through social events such as annual retreats. Social events help to address the issue of burnout by building trust and strong bond between nurses (Portnoy, 2011). The other strategy for dealing with the issue of nurse burnout is supervisor support. Healthcare facilities should encourage meetings between the nurses and supervisors to talk about issues affecting their work. Apart from receiving support from their colleagues and supervisors, nurses need to be empowered. One way of empowering them is by providing them with better salaries and remuneration. The other way is by availing to them opportunities for advancing their education, such as by refunding the tuition fee. They should also be provided with an opportunity to climb the profession ladder such as through promotions. Nurses also need psychological empowerment which
One of the most serious issues in nursing, that can affect a nurses career is nursing burn- out. According to the article “Where have all the nurses gone”, current nurses that are practicing, report high rates of job dissatisfaction (which is part of burn out) and 1 of 5 nurses may quit nursing in the next 5 years (Dworkin, 2002). Burnout is associated with nurses not coming in to work, not feeling satisfied when doing their job, high turnover rates and a lack of commitment to the work (Katisfaraki, 2013). If a nurse becomes burned- out, they may not take care of their patients as well and could make mistakes with medication administration. A study performed in the United States by Dr. Jeannie Cimiottti, shows that hospitals with high burn-out rates among nurses have higher levels UTI’s, and surgical infections (World, 2012). Nursing burnout not only affects the nurse, but it also affects the patient, the nurses’ colleagues, and the nurses’ family; nursing burn out often leads to emotional exhaustion and depression, that can effect relations and communication between the nurse effected and the person they are communicating with. This paper will cover what burn-out is, who is susceptible to burn out, and treatment and prevent nursing burn out.
In order to lead a healthy lifestyle, it is essential that individuals constantly monitor their health. This involves not only physical, but also mental and emotional aspects of the body’s functioning, as they relate to the home, school, work, and leisure environments. If necessary changes are made sooner rather than later, then a stable, balanced and healthy lifestyle will be more consistently maintained. In fact, the World Health Organization says being healthy is feeling that there are few physical or emotional impediments to doing things in your life that you would like. For example, there are many people who are suffering from chronic illnesses who are healthy because they are able to maintain their creativity and vivacity when others cannot. It is evident that self-awareness enc...
The nursing profession is one of the most physically, emotionally, and mentally taxing career fields. Working long shifts, placing other’s needs before your own, dealing with sickness and death on a regular basis, and working in a high stress environment are all precursors to developing occupational burnout in the nursing profession. Burnout refers to physical, emotional and mental exhaustion, which can lead to an emotionally detached nurse, who feels hopeless, apathetic, and unmotivated. Burnout extends beyond the affected nurse and begins to affect the care patients receive. Researchers have found that hospitals with high burnout rates have lower patient satisfaction scores (Aiken et al 2013). There are various measures that nurses can take
Recent literature reports that there is a nursing shortage and it is continually increasing. Data released by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2011) projects that the shortage, would increase to 260,000 by the year 2025. AACN (2011) also reported that 13% of newly registered nurses changed jobs and 37% were ready to change within a year. A study conducted reports that there is a correlation between higher nursing workloads and nurse burnout, retention rates, job dissatisfaction and adverse patient outcomes (Vahey & Aiken, 2004). Among the nurses surveyed in the study, over 40% stated that they were suffering from burnout while 1 in 5 nurses intended
The effect of acting on the thoughts and behavior of this change is that it helped motivate me to become successful after the first failure. My thoughts going into is that I would not end up with the same result as the last attempt. By weighing out the pros and cons of this change helped me push more to a successful path. Improving my health, reducing my risk of certain disease, and feeling better about myself is long term results. Implementing physical activity and eating healthy to get to those results is considered a reward itself. These factors are important to me and it helped me toward my goal at the
Nurses not only provide care but they play many other roles. For example, nurses are considered a communicator, teacher/educator, counselor, leader, advocate and collaborator (Taylor, Lillis, Lynn and LeMone. 2015). As a caregiver, nurses provide physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual needs. In addition, as a caregiver, nurse integrates the roles of communicator, teacher, counselor, leader, researcher, advocate, and collaborator to promote wellness through activities that prevent illness (Taylor et al. 2015). The primary role of a nurse is providing care to patients. One positive behavior a nurse should have is keeping boundaries between work and personal life. If a nurse is having a really bad morning at home, she shouldn’t express her emotions while she is working with patient. The patient and the coworkers don’t need to suffer because a nurse is having a bad day. Another positive quality every nurse should have is good working habits. They should come to work at least half an hour early so they can get organized and prioritize their work before starting the shift. In a health care setting, everyone works as a team. It’s very important to help each other out and also ask for help when
It may seem impossible to juggle many things in life at one time; such as trying to get all the assignments completed, and studying done in a short amount of time to make it to work on time. If that was not stressful enough there is also the pressure of making sure to spend time with family. It can be extra stressful when someone has a very big and close family, and a variety of events are to be attended, making sure assignment are completed in order to join the family. Sometimes it may seem that there is simply not enough time in a day to balance school, work, and family which requires a lot of effort, this can seem like a very daunting task because no one ever wants to fail, it is difficult trying to please everyone, and there seems to
Compassion fatigue is the combination of physical, emotional, and spiritual depletion associated with caring for patients in significant emotional pain and physical distress (Anewalt, 2009; Figley, 1995). It is something that can happen to any nurse being overwhelmed in one or more areas of life and/or work. There are multiple ways a nurse can cope with compassion fatigue, and the article gives two great case studies. The first is of the reactive nurse who ultimately runs away from her issues but never truly fixes why she had the fatigue at all. The second is of a proactive nurse who used the resources provided to pull out of the fatigue and ended up in a better position because of it. Some keys points are made about what compassion fatigue is truly made of and how to set it apart from burnout. The key is to look at the symptoms to assist in differentiating compassion fatigue from burnout which were explained in detail in a table in the article. Once it is proven the issue is compassion fatigue interventions can occur to help pull the nurse out of that slump. This includes things available to the nurse such as Employee Assistance Programs which have many classes offered for both work and home life. Another idea is to create a comfortable, relaxing environment in a designated place on the nursing unit (Lombardo, 2011). Also having new nurse support groups within the new nurse graduate programs in hospitals to give them a chance to reflect along the way is useful. Compassion fatigue, as stated in the article, needs to be studied in its entirety and the specific characteristics and experiences need to be identified as well as what personal qualities and traits might provide protection (Lombardo, 2011).
I was never conscious about my health till high school. It was during high school that I developed a mental model. I learned the consequences of the food that I consume daily. I often ate fast foods and soon I started to gain weight. I gain this weight very quickly and my activity level went down drastically. My weight gain affected my confidence and that’s when I began to be aware of my health in a positive way. I stopped eating fast foods, I worked out everyday and soon I was back to my normal weight. This experience has taught me what it means to take care of your body. My mental model begin with my weight struggle and it turned into me having a healthy life style.