Nurses working in general wards experience more stress related to life-prolonging care than those at intensive care units, a recent study showed.
A research team at Chungnam National University College of Nursing published a study, “General hospital nurses’ perception about the nursing role in life-prolonging care and the effects the awareness of good death have on the stress of nurses in life-prolonging care,” in the recent issue of the journal, Clinical Nursing Research.
The researchers surveyed stress from life-prolonging care, the awareness of nurses’ role in life-prolonging care, and the perception of a good death in 205 nurses at a general hospital. Ninety-two respondents, or 44.9 percent, were nurses at ICUs and the other 113 were nurses working in general wards.
As a result, the researchers found that nurses in general wards had higher stress from life-sustaining treatment than their colleagues in intensive care units.
In comparing the life-sustaining treatment stress index, the general ward nurses’ stress index was 3.79 out of 5 points, and that of intensive care nurses was 3.58 points.
Nurses experienced the greatest stress from compassion for life-sustaining patients. Their stress index was highest at 4.15, followed by conflicts with guardians (3.96), handling equipment (3.85), the dilemma of continuing or suspending care (3.69), mental exhaustion (3.59), and nursing burden (3.31), according to the opinion poll.
Their perception of the role nursing play in life-sustaining treatment was 3.94 out of 5, and that about good death was 2.77 out of 4.
When examining the relationship between life-sustaining treatment’s nursing stress and other areas, the nurses’ departments and the perception of nursing roles in the life-sustaining treatment significantly affected nurses’ stress.
To help ease the stress from life-sustaining treatment felt by nurses at general wards, the study called for the need to strengthen education on life-prolonging care services and secure a sufficient nursing workforce, improving the quality of life-sustaining care quality at general wards.
It is possible to control guardians’ visits to ICY, and doctors also can provide quick and proper mediation. However, patients at general wards are those with chronic diseases, and their guardians are always present, demanding more services, and the workforce is also insufficient compared to ICUs,” it said.
The researchers said even if the nurses’ knowledge about life-sustaining increases and their perception of the nursing role improves, their stress will remain high due to the heavy workload, flawed system, and conflicts between doctors, patients, and guardians.
“It is necessary, therefore, to provide high-quality education on life-prolonging care for nurses at general wards and inject more manpower to improve the service quality for patients,” it added.