Being an emergency room nurse, you must be willing to deal with a chaotic and stressful environment and must be good at handling such situations. According to Lainie Petersen 2018, emergency room nursing is not easy, but it offers new challenges and constant surprises. Registered nurses who work in emergency rooms are responsible for assessing patients, providing and assisting with medical treatments, and instructing patients on what they need to do once they leave the hospital. Emergency room nurses are in demand and can earn an above-average income, especially if they gain work experience. Being assigned to this area comes with a lot of pressure, you need to have an active mind to handle emergency situations. You are dealing with critical situations that should be handled immediately and dealing with the patient's family who is hysterical is also not easy. Stressful events that occur in the emergency department can have a profound effect on staff members. Incidents involving assault, violence, patient death, or participation in resuscitation can be emotionally and physically challenging (Sarita Ahwal 2015). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay As an emergency nurse, you are exposed to many stressors and need to know how to deal with them. Improper stress management can lead to burnout and could impact your performance in the field and your relationship with colleagues. Social support is also important to deal with stress, you and your colleagues need to support and encourage each other. According to Lewis et al. 2010, job recognition strategies should be formulated to alleviate the physical and psychological stressors of emergency department personnel. This would help channel their efforts towards providing quality care to patients and improve nurse retention in their clinical areas. Governments should conduct periodic health assessments for both the physical and mental dimensions of health. Interventions are needed to support managers in developing effective behaviors to reduce and manage stress at work. The purpose of this study is to determine the life experiences of night shift emergency room nurses. Specifically, this study is also significant for the following:1. Student Nurse This will help them gain more knowledge about the stress experienced by emergency room nurses and their strategies for dealing with that stress.2. Clinical Instructor/ Classroom Instructor They can use this study as an example in their lesson, especially when discussing managing emergency situations and how to overcome stress.3. SocietyThis will provide a better understanding on how to deal with stress not only for nurses/nursing students but also for society. Purpose and limitationsThis study is limited to (1) one emergency room nurse in each different hospital in Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat. The following terms are operationally defined as used in this study: Aggression Any behavior or attitude that reflects anger, rage, or hostility and the potential for physical or verbal abuse or destructiveness. Behavior – A response by an individual or group to an action, environment, person, or stimulusBurnout – Physical or mental collapse caused by overwork or stress.Charismatic – Exercising an irresistible charm that inspires devotion in others.Coping – In a state of complete confusion and disorder.Emergency - It is a situation that posesan immediate risk to health, life, property or the environment. Indisputable - Being incapable of being challenged or denied. Psychological distress - This is a general term used to describe unpleasant feelings or emotions that affect your level of functioning. Stress – It is the way your body responds to any kind of question or threat. Emergency Department Work Environment While it was almost universally recognized that emergency departments are stressful places to work, staff perceptions of the stressors varied. Some studies have suggested that exposure to emergency department stressors was often unbearable, while others have suggested that they are a critical and crucial part of the job. Emergency nurses experience work-related stress that originates from a variety of sources, including inadequate staffing and resources, too many resources not nursing tasks, changing trends in emergency room utilization, patient transfer problems, and even ongoing confrontation with patients and families demonstrating crises or problematic behaviors (Hawley, 1992). The psychological demands of the emergency department environment are high, with staff exposed to pain, distress, helplessness, anxiety, fear, hopelessness, feelings of abandonment and loss. Working conditions may be inadequate due to overcrowding, lack of resources, work overload and the frenetic pace of work required of the professional providing care (Kogien and Cedaro, 2014). The most stressful demand for nurses was about pain, suffering, grief, and patient/family responses. Heavy workloads associated with understaffing and lack of resources have also been classified as highly stressful (Adeb-Saeedi, 2002). Participants with lower confidence at the end of the first and fourth months showed significantly higher distress scores than those with higher levels of confidence (Williams, Dale, Glucksman, & Welleslay, 1997, UK). Stress Coping Strategies Two dimensions of coping are problem-focused and emotion-focused coping. Problem-focused coping consists of concrete attempts made to alter the stressful event while emotion-focused coping consists of attempts made to alter stressful feelings (LeSergenta & Haney, 2005). There are some unavoidable stressors in nursing that can adversely affect the mind and behavior of nurses; it is important to find ways to address these factors before measures can be taken to improve the professional quality of nurses and teach them coping strategies (Lashonda, 2004). Gender difference in coping strategy: Women tend to use emotion-focused strategies (self-control and positive reappraisal) and men use a more problem-focused approach (Gholamzadeh, Sharif, & Rad, 2011). Effective use of humor, teamwork, and extracurricular activities buffered the effects of stress (McFarlane, Duff, & Bailey, 2004). Social support was associated with better psychological health and greater use of problem-focused coping strategies. Emergency department physicians, but not other emergency department personnel, reported an increased risk of psychological distress. Greater psychological health has been associated with the use of problem-focused coping strategies and higher levels of social support at work. Those who reported lower levels of psychological health were more likely to use maladaptive coping strategies (Yates, Benson, Harris, & Baron, 2012). The first step towards effective stress management is understanding.
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