Abstract
Nurse turnover, shortages, and lack of nurse retention have all been linked to stress among nurses. This ethnographic study explored if burnout and moral distress, often a result of excessive stress, led to job turnover among critical care nurses in northern Indiana and southern Michigan. It also explored the factors that may cause burnout and moral distress in the identified population. Although burnout and moral distress have been studied in various professions and locales over the years, research specific to critical care nurses has been limited in the northern Indiana, southern Michigan area. In this study, 100% of the nurses felt that burnout and moral distress led to turnover. These same nurses attributed burnout and moral distress to affecting the quality of care given to patients. The guiding framework for this study’s design was Corley’s theory of moral distress.
Highlights
High stress levels among nurses can lead to job dissatisfaction, moral dilemmas, absence of staff engagement, burnout, and emotional fatigue (Corley, 2002)
Burnout and moral distress have been studied in various professions and locales over the years, research specific to critical care nurses has been limited in the northern Indiana, southern Michigan area
Moral distress and burnout are well known in many professions, these areas have not been recognized as a true problem in the nursing profession, as evidenced by increasingly high turnover rates
Summary
High stress levels among nurses can lead to job dissatisfaction, moral dilemmas, absence of staff engagement, burnout, and emotional fatigue (Corley, 2002) This same stress may positively contribute to individuals gaining more focus, it may lead to feeling pressured and being overwhelmed (Moss, Good, Gozal, Kleinpell, & Sessler, 2016) resulting in insomnia, fatigue, irritability, anxiety, and depression (Moss et al, 2016). Today’s nurses experience increased demands in a constrained environment, including high patient acuity, technological advances, staffing shortages, shorter patient lengths of stay, and financial pressures. These factors contribute to high stress levels (Kurtzman & Corrigan, 2007). This stress can be detrimental to patient care and lead to further physical issues for the nurse, including depression or even substance abuse (Young et al, 2011)
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