If you've been reading our blog for any period of time now, you know our passion is for helping Nurses be their best through an increase in physical fitness and exercise.  We believe a healthy mind, body and soul is critical to providing top-notch patient care throughout every shift.  You can read up on any of our fitness-related tips throughout this site; maybe this is a good one to start with.

It's not all about exercise, though.  In fact, exercise is just one part of the puzzle.  The greater issue for Nurses - for which exercise acts as one of many coping mechanisms - is Stress Management.  Stress Management is a HUGE industry in the US all by itself - about $12 billion and growing.  The Stress Management industry is focused on helping everyday people learn how to deal with life's daily issues more effectively.  The industry also focuses on helping organizations develop stress-related programs for their employees at the workplace.

Scour the net and you'll find more tips and stress management advice than you could ever go through in a lifetime.  Among everything out there, we were excited to recently come across a great study specifically aimed at the Nursing community titled "The Impact of Stress Management on Nurse Productivity and Retention".  The authors, from Old Dominion University, do a great job of relating the major issues and statistics to the Nursing industry.



Briefly, here's what they found:

• Burn-out, a consequence of high stress among RNs, is an issue that exacerbates the already dire nurse shortage the country faces.  One in five nurses (20%) will leave his/her job due to dissatisfaction caused by burnout and stress.
• Current annual RN turnover rates are estimated by JCAHO to range from 18% to 26%, with recent cost estimates for each nurse-turnover ranging from $62,100 to $67,000.  This can add $1 million in additional costs to an organization for every 15 nurse positions that are left vacant due to turnover.
• Nurses who encounter stress are more likely to eat poorly, smoke cigarettes, and abuse alcohol and drugs, all of which affects personal well-being and, subsequently, quality and efficacy of patient care.

Separate studies show these statistics to be in-line with national figures.  The National Safety Council estimates that up to one million employee absences per day are for stress related reasons.  The American Institute of Stress reports that stress is a major factor in up to 80 percent all work-related injuries and 40 percent of workplace turnovers.

The study cited many root causes of Nurse stress:

• The critical nature of the work with its potential for serious injury to others if careless for even a moment;
• Staffing shortages requiring fewer nurses to care for more patients with less help;
• Working double shifts or returning to work 8 hours after one shift ends to meet the needs of patients and the facility
• Inadequate rest because of working rotating schedules so that bodies have difficulty knowing when to sleep;
• working closely with deadly diseases and knowing that an accidental needle stick or body fluid splash can easily result in infection;
• Struggling with aches and pains from lifting and pulling patients; (note: see our article on this topic)
• Seeing some co-workers permanently disabled because of on-the-job back injuries;
• Watching people suffer and coping with family grief in the front lines of human need;
• Touching, bathing, applying dressings and would care to those who are indecent or rude;
• Providing physical care to those who are unclean;
• Job layoffs, mergers, company failures, job insecurity;
• Difficulties with co-workers or supervisors; unfair evaluations or expectations;
• Potential for lawsuits

Employers are increasingly being asked to offer services to help alleviate stress on Nurses and other health care workers.  These services include child and elder care, concierge services, grocery delivery, yard work, and banking services.  In fact, many of the Hospitals and Medical Centers that made Fortune magazine's 2008 "100 Best Companies to Work For" list have designed such programs. 

Providing Nurses realistic stress-reduction solutions that prevent burnout will continue to be a major topic in the industry - and for us here on this site.  As the authors of the study note, it is unlikely that the stressful nature of the health care setting will decrease significantly in the time ahead.  They maintain that it is feasible that a comprehensive stress-management program for nurses could positively impact nurses' health and well-being, and consequently result in greater productivity and lower attrition industry-wide. 

So those are the facts.  Finding ways to manage stress has major financial and personnel implications for our industry, both short term and long term.  As mentioned above, exercise is just one component within the framework of coping.  Breathing control, massage therapy, positive reinforcement and meditation are some of the other techniques that apply.  We'll be posting information, tips and articles here regularly, so check back often or sign up for our RSS feed to get the latest postings.

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