Text

Care, Recovery and Health

Stress and stress management and its impact on the nursing care of newly graduated registered nurses in the emergency units during the Covid-19-pandemic

The overall purpose is to investigate the work situation of newly graduated registered nurses (NGRN’s) working in emergency units during the Covid-19- pandemic, their experiences, and management of stress, the significance of stress on their own health and on the care they provide.

Start

2019-10-07

Planned completion

2024-09-30

Project manager at MDU

No partial template found

Background

Stress-related ill health is a growing problem in Sweden and internationally and has escalated during the Covid-19-pandemic Particularly affected are young women active in health care, such as newly graduated registered nurses (NGRNs). By identifying stress factors that contribute to NGRN's experience of work-related stress, we hope to be able to design individual support to prevent and manage work-related stress and also show what organizational changes can be made to reduce perceived work-related stress in this group. In addition, the research will be able to contribute to increased knowledge about the impact that work-related stress has on nursing care, which is an important part of the work for increased patient safety and quality of care.

Project objectives

Research on NGRN's in emergency units during the Covid-19-pandemic is limited and this research project contributes with valuable and unique knowledge about how the current situation has affected the researchers' own health but also the impact on the care they provide to patients. With knowledge of NGRN's perceived work-related stress and management strategies, various measures can be tailored in order to reduce the experience of work-related stress and create conditions for management strategies. This knowledge will be able to make an important contribution in the analysis phase after the Covid-19-pandemic and also be able to contribute to the introduction of interventions to reduce the risk of stress-related ill health in crisis situations in the future.

Study I:

Aim: To investigate newly graduated registered nurses' (NGRN's) experience of work-related stress and their stress management strategies as well as the importance of perceived work-related stress for the care they provide during the Covid-19-pandemic. 14 semi-structured interviews have been conducted, audio-recorded, transcribed and analyzed with qualitative content analysis.

Study II:

Aim: To examine NGRN's experience of work-related stress and their stress management strategies during the Covid-19-pandemic. Fourteen nurses have been interviewed via recorded semi-structured interviews subsequently transcribed and analyzed with qualitative content analysis.

Study III:

Aim: To investigate how NGRN's perceived work-related stress affects the care they provide during the Covid-19-pandemic. Fourteen NGRN's have been interviewed with semi-structured interviews. The interviews have been recorded and then transcribed and will be analyzed using a phenomenological hermeneutic method.

Study IV:

Aim: To describe NGRN's experiences of work-related stress over time and to examine the long-term consequences linked to the sharply changed working conditions that the Covid-19-pandemic has entailed. Employee surveys on work-related stress are intended to be collected and compared with later surveys.


Participants in the project from the research group:

  • Petra von Heideken Wågert, docent i fysioterapi
  • Lena Wiklund Gustin, docent i vårdvetenskap
  • Susanna Toivanen, professor i arbetslivsvetenskap
  • Karin Skoglund, lektor i vårdvetenskap
  • Hillewi Carnesten, doktorand i vårdvetenskap