Shaw RL, Morrison R, Webb S, Balogun O, Duncan HP, Butcher I. Challenges to well-being in critical care.
Nurs Crit Care 2024;
29:745-755. [PMID:
38233201 DOI:
10.1111/nicc.13030]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2023] [Revised: 12/22/2023] [Accepted: 12/23/2023] [Indexed: 01/19/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Paediatric critical care (PCC) is a high-pressure working environment. Staff experience high levels of burnout, symptoms of post-traumatic stress, and moral distress.
AIM
To understand challenges to workplace well-being in PCC to help inform the development of staff interventions to improve and maintain well-being.
STUDY DESIGN
The Enhanced Critical Incident Technique (ECIT) was used. ECIT encompasses semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis. We identified 'critical incidents', challenges to well-being, categorized them in a meaningful way, and identified factors which helped and hindered in those moments. Fifty-three nurses and doctors from a large UK quaternary PCC unit were consented to take part.
RESULTS
Themes generated are: Context of working in PCC, which examined staff's experiences of working in PCC generally and during COVID-19; Patient care and moral distress explored significant challenges to well-being faced by staff caring for increasingly complex and chronically ill patients; Teamwork and leadership demonstrated the importance of team-belonging and clear leadership; Changing workforce explored the impact of staffing shortages and the ageing workforce on well-being; and Satisfying basic human needs, which identified absences in basic requirements of food and rest.
CONCLUSIONS
Staff's experiential accounts demonstrated a clear need for psychologically informed environments to enable the sharing of vulnerabilities, foster support, and maintain workplace well-being. Themes resonated with the self-determination theory and Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which outline requirements for fulfilment (self-actualization).
RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE
Well-being interventions must be informed by psychological theory and evidence. Recommendations are flexible rostering, advanced communication training, psychologically-informed support, supervision/mentoring training, adequate accommodation and hot food. Investment is required to develop successful interventions to improve workplace well-being.
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