Helping Students to Be Gritty

The Future Capacity of the Nursing Workforce: COVID-19 Pandemic's Impacts on New Nurses and Nursing Students Toward the Profession

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Background

Nurses are concerned for their safety and conflicted about their career, because their duty to care for patients during the pandemic involved competing ethical obligations, including their own personal safety.

Purpose

The aim was to explore the impact of COVID-19 on new nurses and nursing students in terms of safety and interest in nursing specifically related to self-efficacy, geographic region case density, and frontline experience in health care.

Methods

New nurses and nursing students (N = 472) responded to an online survey examining self-efficacy, sense of safety, and interest in nursing. The survey included an open-ended question to support response interpretation.

Results

Researchers identified significant differences among new nurses and students from contrasting case-dense regions in terms of safety and interest in nursing.

Conclusion

Concerns about personal safety and the safety of others were apparent. Over time, this may lead to a decrease in willingness to enter or remain in the nursing profession.

Higher Grit Scores Associated With Less Burnout in a Cohort of Internal Medicine Residents

BACKGROUND

The association between grit, defined as perseverance and passion for long-term goals, and professional burnout has not been studied in internal medicine residents. Our objective was to examine whether internal medicine residents' scores on a grit scale were associated with various measures of burnout.

METHODS

All residents from a single internal medicine program were invited to participate in a study of grit and burnout. Grit and burnout were measured using the Short Grit Scale and modified Maslach Burnout Inventory, respectively. In addition, demographics, last In-Training Examination (ITE) score, and interest in a subspecialty were captured.

RESULTS

A total of 139 of 168 eligible residents (83%) participated. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization (i.e., burn out) were identified in 63% and 42% of residents, respectively. Endorsement of emotional exhaustion was higher for residents living with family members, postgraduate year (PGY)1 and PGY2 compared with PGY3 residents, and residents scoring above the 50th percentile on the last ITE. Grit scores were higher for residents not reporting emotional exhaustion. As grit score increases, the odds of reporting emotional exhaustion significantly decreased, after adjustments for demographics, ITE scores, type of medical school, PGY level, and interest in a subspecialty (odds ratio = 0.36, 95% CI 0.15-0.84).

CONCLUSIONS

Grit appeared to be an independent predictor of burnout in internal medicine residents in this sample, with lower grit scores associated with higher burnout scores. By measuring grit early in residency, programs can potentially identify residents at risk for symptoms of burnout, specifically emotional exhaustion, and implement targeted interventions.