Resilience In Nursing Facing Adversity And Maintaining Optimistic Outlook

Resilience In Nursing Facing Adversity And Maintaining Optimistic Outlook

Discussion

Nursing resilience is described as the ability of a nurse to face adversity in workplace and remain focused while continuing to have an optimistic outlook towards the future. Resilience in nursing profession is considered as an important characteristic for these healthcare professionals in the complex healthcare system that exists in the recent times (Kester & Wei, 2018). Resilience is considered to allow nursing professionals to positively adjust to situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic that the newly graduated Olivia had to face in the case scenario. Resilience in nursing is a dynamic and complex process that differs with time and the context of the situation and it assimilates the external properties and the individual characteristics. It is imperative that engagement and action from both the organization and the individual must be present for the sustenance of resilience in nursing (Cooper et al., 2020; Cooper, Brown and Leslie, 2021)Resilience In Nursing Facing Adversity And Maintaining Optimistic Outlook.

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The existing studies focus on the resilience in nurses when they are in high-intensity hospital settings such as oncology, emergency department and environments where critical care is provided- the scenario that Olivia was involved in is also a high-intensity setting where the healthcare organizations were put under immense stress due to the outbreak of COVID-19. The contributing factors that lead to dissatisfaction in nurses have been associated with negative feelings such as distress and lowered quality of professional (sometimes, also personal) life (Kester & Wei, 2018).

It has been demonstrated through several studies that resilience in nurses can manage the negative effects of stressors in the workplace such as those that were presented in the case scenario for Olivia, and it also brings about improved outcomes in patients. When nursing professionals are faced with adverse situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic which is a major public health emergency, it has been noted that their resilience allows them to face the situation; in addition, it also enables them to recover from the traumatic experience that would have negative impacts such as compassion fatigue, anxiety or depression in those who lack resilience (Manomenidis, Panagopoulou & Montgomery, 2019). The increased demand for nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of a workforce that is dynamic and resilient.

Olivia was a recent graduate registered nurse in the gastroenterology ward who experienced distress due to the changes in her workplace. Through the case scenario, the organisational factors recognised that affected Olivia’s nursing practice were the cuts in budget that were made due to the pandemic and the diversion of the available resources for the management of COVID-19 patients; These organizational factors were a contributor to the negative feelings of Olivia as the inadequate supply of resources and equipment resulted in a negative impact on the human resources that were present in the hospital as they were obligated to provide good quality of care by using the limited resources in the hospital due to the   emergency. Moreover, studies have shown that budget cuts make the workplace environment for nurses unfavourable through increasing the challenges such as distribution of scarce resource during a crisis when everyone requires immediate medical attention (Sillero & Zabaegui, 2018). This demonstrated the ineffective managerial approach that existed in the hospital (Ghavidel et al., 2019)Resilience In Nursing Facing Adversity And Maintaining Optimistic Outlook. This ineffective approach for the handling of the emergency situation affected Olivia’s experience through causing mental exhaustion and affecting her ability to focus.

Organizational, Societal And Structural Factors Affecting Nursing Practice Of Olivia

In additional the structural factors that were recognised was the shortage in staff and the increased workload on Olivia. These two structural factors affected Olivia’s nursing practice through decreasing the time she was able to provide in care of the patients under her care. This impacted her ability to provide patient care that was effective and beneficial to them. Studies have established that there is a link between poor nursing performance, job distress and heavy workload such as that experienced by Olivia (Havaei & MacPhee, 2020); the number of patients under the care of Olivia increased from four to eight due to the decrease in human resources present to manage the emergency situation. In addition, it has been seen that this poor performance due to the structural factors such as increased workload and shortage of staff, lead to negative impact on the patient outcomes such as delayed care, falls, increased incidence of hospital-acquired infections and others (Alghamdi, 2016; Tucker et al., 2019)Resilience In Nursing Facing Adversity And Maintaining Optimistic Outlook. The shortage of nursing staff affects the ability of the organisation to provide high quality of care and puts the pressure on the available staff to provide complex care utilising the available, albeit scarce, resources. Therefore, these structural factors resulted in Olivia overworking that impacted the resilience possessed by Olivia through bringing about a feeling of tiredness.

The societal factors that affected Olivia’s nursing practice were recognised as the lack of support from her partner and the inability to meet her friends and family and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Moreover, her fear of jeopardizing a long-term career in the hospital prevented her from reporting her experience to the senior colleagues. The poor work conditions that demanded Olivia’s care provision with limited resources led to negative impact on her personal life (Mudallal et al., 2017). The increased pressure at work prevented her from meeting her partner and visiting her family; moreover, the lack of understanding demonstrated by her partner who expected Olivia to complete her work on time as he worked in a setting where the work hours were fixed and it did not demand the partner’s attention in the same manner as the healthcare setting where she worked.  In addition, the inability of Olivia to meet her friends and family, visit her mother during the weekend might lead to her burnout due to the lack of a social life where she could experience a different setting than the workplace (Badu et al., 2020). Due to the lack of extensive studies on the impact of social isolation on nurses, it is assumed that the effect on them would be increased if not the same. As nurses are responsible for maintaining the standard of care and providing high quality of care to the patients while upholding the principles of nursing; it is expected that social isolation which prevents the interaction of nursing professionals with significant people in their lives also impacts their mental health through increasing their mental burden, putting them at an increased risk of experiencing a burnout and exhibiting signs of anxiety disorders, depression and other mental health issues (Purssell, Gould & Chudleigh, 2020)Resilience In Nursing Facing Adversity And Maintaining Optimistic Outlook. Olivia was at an increased risk of experiencing a burnout due to the stress that was being offered from the workplace in addition to the unrealistic expectations set by her partner and the healthcare organisation. Moreover, the negative impact of such expectation by the healthcare organisation, has been seen to affect the physical health of nurses. There have been incidences of nurses developing chronic pain in the lower back from performing bedside procedures and lifting heavy equipment. Moreover, a disrupted routine of physical activity was observed in the case scenario where Olivia was unable to attend her gym sessions since the time her hospital experienced a shortage of staff and increased workload due to the pandemic (Havaei & MacPhee, 2020).

Strategies For Management Of The Factors

Olivia would be required to build her personal resilience as it would aid her in coping with the adverse situation such as that in the case scenario. In a situation where the nurses such as Olivia have to work in under-resourced and overburdened health care settings, developing personal resilience has been recognised as an effective strategy to cope with stress associated with work; this would also help her in addressing the issues such as engagement in self-care activities, maintaining job satisfaction and not experience burnout (Henshall, Davey & Jackson, 2020). She could create a good plan for managing the budget while collaborating with her colleagues and conduct consistent monitoring or she could recommend the hospital to hire a staff who is qualified in managing hospital budgets. In addition, Olivia could make a plan to allocate the diverted resources among the patients through assessing the other requirements of the patients so that she could prioritise the provision of limited resource. Demonstration of taking an initiative to manage the organisational factors would display the leadership quality of Olivia, interested in promoting the utilisation of guidelines for best practice in the organisation (Cooper, Brown & Leslie, 2021). Nurses have been observed through studies to employ various individual strategies such as positive thinking, organizing their work as a mindful strategy, self-reliance, interest and passion to manage the adversities faced in their workplace (Badu et al., 2020). Similarly, Olivia could encourage the remaining staff to cooperate in changing schedules so that the pressure does not fall on the same staff over a prolonged period of time. Moreover, Olivia could develop a plan that helps her in managing her time with each patient so that ample amount of attention is provided to the patients under her care. To implement these, she would also require the support from her hospital and she could share her plan with her supervisors so that initial support is obtained (Scammell, 2017)Resilience In Nursing Facing Adversity And Maintaining Optimistic Outlook. The strategy to establish a work-life balance would tremendously aid Olivia in addressing the societal factors that affected her nursing practice along with the overall health, well-being and safety. In order to minimize the negative impacts of the increased workload, Olivia could start with accepting the situation, as addressing the situation would provide her the ground to begin personalising a plan that would help her maintain a work-life balance. Next, she could optimize her work schedule to prioritize her physical and mental health while managing the situation at her work. The optimization of her work schedule would provide her the opportunity to manage her time and maintain a social life that aids in bettering her wellbeing (Alameddine et al., 2021). These personal resilience strategies stated above would help Olivia in changing the narrative of the situation and become confident in providing the care that is required by the patients afflicted with COVID-19. The strategy of taking the initiative to address the budget and diverted resources would provide her the opportunity to modify the situation of her ward and the hospital; this would positively influence her mental wellbeing. In addition, the second personal strategy to cooperate with the remaining staff to work in changing schedules would promote Olivia’s self-reliance and aid in organising her work through addressing the needs of her patient while providing her ample time to assess her patients; this would promote her overall health, wellbeing and safety through decreasing the burden that she was under due to the increased workload and lack of a proper plan to manage the staff shortage. The risk of serious occupational harm such as burnout, compassion fatigue, physical issues such as development of pain in the lower back, cancer due to exposure to several chemicals and radiation could be mitigated through the adoption of a work-life balance by Olivia. Developing a plan to maintain her work-life balance would allow Olivia to prioritise her mental and physical health as she will be able to spend time with her friends, family and partner and engage in physical activity that would promote her overall health, wellbeing and safety from workplace risks (Alameddine et al., 2021)Resilience In Nursing Facing Adversity And Maintaining Optimistic Outlook.

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Conclusion:

In conclusion, the registered nurse, Olivia could improve her resilience through implementing the personal resilience strategies that would help her to prioritize her mental and physical wellbeing. The organisational, societal and structural factors that were identified to have effect on the nursing practice of Olivia could be managed through the development of a budget and resource plan in collaboration with the other staff, the second strategy to promote cooperation among the nurses to change schedules so that the workload does not become taxing for the nurses. Lastly, developing a work-life balance would allow Olivia to prioritise her health, wellbeing and safety while managing the workload efficiently, providing high quality care to her patients.  Resilience In Nursing Facing Adversity And Maintaining Optimistic Outlook