The Role Of Fatigue In Nursing

Nursing is the profession that never leaves the patient from admission to discharge. Due to the high emotional and physical demands of the job, burnout or nursing fatigue is prevalent in the profession. Burnout is a well-studied problem; however, there are very little changes done to prevent fatigue in health care. Nursing fatigue is an interplay of individual, organizational and systematic factors that negatively affect not only the health of the nurse but also patient safety. For the purpose of this paper, I will focus on the external challenges in the organizational level that might affect new nurses in their first year of practice such as heavy workload, lack of support and poor leadership style.

On the surface, heavy workload and short

A professor of mine, who started her career at an oncology unit, had to quit due to the overwhelming sense of grief and loss. Although one could argue she is too young and unprepared to cope to the emotionally taxing job, I believe that the absence of help contributed to her emotional burnout. The organization has to provide education, counselling and allow nurses to grieve. Some nurses preferred informal peer support (cite) but the organization should also cater for nurses that would like to have a group counselling. As well as developing a culture that is more open to the reporting of occupational and emotional fatigue so that nurses do not have to suffer in silence and receive the help that they need. I strongly believe that the more accessible support is to me as new graduate, the less chances I have of developing emotional fatigue in the

Unsupportive nurse leader is a common topic in class discussions, more specifically, a tension between a student and an authoritarian clinical course director or staff nurse. As a nursing student I can understand the need for of the clinical instructor to opt for authoritarian leadership as I am practicing under their licence; however, authoritarian leadership does not foster learning. The controlling nature of authoritarianism negatively affects my experience as a student. I would prefer a democratic leader who listens to their students but will still make the final decision. As I advance to my practice, I would like to have a transformational leader who places themselves as equal to their followers and inspires them to achieve higher goals. Transformational leader allows nurses to make their independent decisions and encourages them to improve. Although leadership and management always come together, the two roles are not the same. While leaders focuses on people and relationships, managers concentrates on the task at hand (Cite website). Though I have only met a few nurse managers, I think the best management style for a new nurse is a coaching manager since their focus is the professional development of their followers. New nurses need someone who is willing to help their employees and able to provide opportunities for professional. The manager needs to be highly