Open Access Opinion

Emergency Department Nurses Changing Roles and Boundaries: Narratives of Burnout

Debbie Hetherington*, Nathan J Wilson, Kathleen Dixon and Gillian Murphy

School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University, Australia

Corresponding Author

Received Date: February 26, 2020;  Published Date: April 15, 2020

Abstract

Health and nursing literature states that Australian nurses are exposed to ongoing stressful work situations and that those working in emergency departments are faced with a unique stressor: traumatic emergency cases WHO (World Health Organization) 2019 [1]. Constant exposure to such stressful events presents the potential for the emergency department nurse to develop emotional response mechanisms that run counter to their professional identity as a nurse, such as a loss of compassion towards others, as one way to cope. Exposure to ongoing stress at work may result in burnout, which has been defined as a condition that is the result of chronic workplace stress that has not been productively managed WHO 2019 [1]. There is growing research relating to burnout in hospital settings [2-4], however, research about burnout specific to nurses who work in the emergency department is scant. With reported retention rates among emergency nursing staff decreasing, it was time to focus on this nursing cohort to explore the challenging issues they face at work. Additionally, this research explored how these challenges directly and/or indirectly affected their personal and private lives [3].

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