Nurses’ Description of their Lived Experiences on Ethical Distress

Abstract

Workplace distress is the physical and emotional outcomes that usually result when there is disparity between the demands of the job and the amount of control the individual has in meeting those demands. Stress occurs anytime and it indicates that the demands placed upon the person have exceeded the person's personal resources, whether these resources are physical, emotional, economic, social or spiritual. Thus, workplace stress occurs when the challenges and demands of work become excessive, the pressures of the workplace exceed the worker's ability to handle them and job satisfaction turns to frustration and exhaustion. Thus, the aim of the study was to describe nurses’ lived experiences on ethical distress. A qualitative phenomenological design was used. The findings showed that the key informants described their lived experiences on ethical distress as frustrations, stressors, hardships and challenges resulting from lack of resources and overwhelming responsibilities of nurses. It was found that the nurses in Kenya have similar lived experiences on ethical distress and this lived experiences are described as scarcity of resources and overwhelming responsibilities. The study concluded that nurses experience the same situations despite being located in different areas which include Nairobi and Kisii. The study also concluded that nurses are entitled to numerous responsibilities although it is more than they can handle and these responsibilities become overwhelming and cause distress. The study recommended that the county governments should strive to provide adequate human, material resources and improve on infrastructure. The study also recommended that proper measures should be put in place to curb absenteeism and punctuality. Keywords: Lived experiences, Ethical distress, Nurses, Kenya