What is stress?
Stress is something that all of us will experience at some point in our lives. The Health and Safety Executive defines stress as “the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of demand placed on them”. We often feel stressed when we have many things to do or have a lot on our minds, causing us to feel quite overwhelmed.
Work related stress occurs when an individual cannot cope with the pressure and demands of their job. Some studies have shown that acute stress can be healthy as it stimulates hormones like adrenaline and cortisol, which help activate the "flight or fight" response, stimulates our brains and helps us to achieve optimal performance. But the impact of too much stress over a prolonged period of time can lead to negative health benefits and even premature death.
Why is this important to me?
According to the World Health Organization, hospital nurses take 50% more sick days than other professions, some owing to the burden of nursing work. Nursing is a highly demanding job with rapidly changing circumstances, resource/staff shortages and deals with highly emotional situations, which can then lead to higher levels of stress.
The effects of too much stress include lack of sleep and tiredness, which can then lead to mistakes being made as it becomes more difficult to concentrate. Tiredness can also lead to irritability and feelings of not wanting to socialise which can then affect patient care and how we work with others as a team.
Links/References:
Health and Safety Executive. (no date) Work related stress. [Online] [Accessed 8/5/14] http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/furtheradvice/wrs.html.
Keller, A., Litzelman, K., Wisk, L.E., Maddox, T., Cheng, E.R., Creswell, P.D. & Witt, W.P. (2011) ‘Does the Perception that Stress Affects Health Matter? The Association with Health and Mortality.’ Health Psychology. 31(5) pp. 677-684.
Kirkby, E.D., Muroy, S.E., Sun, W.G., Covarrubias, D., Leong, M.J., Barchas, L.A., Kaufer, D. (2013) 'Acute stress enhances adult rat hippocampal neurogenesis and activation of newborn neurons via secreted astrocytic FGF2.' Elife. [Online] [Accessed on 15/5/14] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23599891.
Poulin, M.J., Brown, S.L., Dillard, A.J. & Smith, D.M. (2013) ‘Giving to others and the association between stress and morality’. American Journal of Public Health. 103(9) pp.1649-1655.
Smith, A., Brice, C., Collins, A., Matthews, V. & McNamara, R. (2000) The scale of occupational stress: a further analysis of the impact of demographic factors and type of job. HSE: London.
World Health Organization. (2010) The case for paid sick leave. [Online] [Accessed on 15/5/14] http://www.who.int/healthsystems/topics/financing/healthreport/SickleaveNo9FINAL.pdf.