Research Critique Guidelines – Part I-Nurses Burnout-Nursing Paper Examples

Qualitative Studies

Introduction (Nurses Burnout-Nursing Paper Examples)

Globally, burnout among nurses continues to threaten quality care and patient satisfaction. Burnout results from long-term interpersonal and emotional stressors in the workplace, majorly predetermined by the workload and working environment. Reducing hospitalization days to contain healthcare costs intensifies the nursing care and work burden leading to adverse outcomes (Nurses Burnout-Nursing Paper Examples).

Nurses are high-risk category for work-related stress compared to other healthcare professionals (Farhadi et al., 2021). Thus, scholars have widely explored the burnout issue among nurses, leading to substantial evidence-based information for researchers, students, and educators. This paper will critically appraise two qualitative articles identified in topic one (Nurses Burnout-Nursing Paper Examples).

My PICOT question: Among nurses (P), how does practicing stress management (I) as compared to not practicing stress management (C) impact burnout (O) over 6 months (T)

Background of Studies

The first qualitative study by Don Santos (2020) asserts that nurses comprise one of the most vital groups in the public health sector. However, burnout, stress, intense responsibilities, stigma, and social bias negatively impact the profession’s status and societal position. The author asserts that workplace stress among nurses in South Korea has been linked with depression and negative feelings regardless of nurses’ gender, registration, and specialization (Nurses Burnout-Nursing Paper Examples).

Overload of duties, responsibilities prolonged working hours are some of the major causes of the problem. Therefore, this study aims to explore and understand that cultural and social factors determine the self-efficacy of nursing professionals. It also aims to determine the sources of the mentioned environmental factors among nurses in South Korea. The study utilized two research questions (Nurses Burnout-Nursing Paper Examples).

1. How does the nursing career pathway influence burnout, stress, social bias, and stigma among women nurses in South Korea?
2. What are the potential sources of stress and burnout that reduce self-efficacy among women nurses in South Korea?

In the second study, Friganović et al. (2021) claim that ICUs are specific environments linked with high patient turnovers, intense workloads, and stress. High stress levels among ICU nurses result in physical illness, eating problems, reduced well-being, sick leave, and absenteeism, leading to a nursing workforce shortage. They reduce the quality of care and patient satisfaction. However, several studies have advanced burnout diagnosis and intervention to reduce the symptoms and use coping strategies (Nurses Burnout-Nursing Paper Examples).

For instance, encouraging nurses to use their resources, such as yoga, mindfulness, and organization support, has improved outcomes. This study aimed to determine the sense of knowledge and attitudes of burnout among nurses with burnout. The objective was to fill the information gap on experience and attitude of burnout among ICU nurses in five Zagreb University hospitals in Croatia (Nurses Burnout-Nursing Paper Examples).

The research question was:

1. What is the sense of knowledge and attitude of burnout among nurses with burnout?

How Do These Two Articles Support the Nursing Practice Problem You Chose?

The articles are relevant to my research topic and will be used to answer my PITOCT question. My research question focuses on providing evidence-based information on how practicing stress management influences burnout among nurses. Research by Don Santos (2020) supports my nursing problem by determining the sources of stress that lead to burnout and reduce self-efficacy among nurses (Nurses Burnout-Nursing Paper Examples).

Determining the sources of stress will be vital to devise evidence-based interventions by curbing potential sources of stress to mitigate burnout. Friganović et al. (2021) focus on determining nurses’ sense of knowledge and attitude toward burnout. The article will instrumentally guide the intervention process. For instance, inadequate or lack of knowledge and negative attitudes about burnout will call for health promotion to improve nurses’ knowledge and create positive attitudes before implementing the intervention (Nurses Burnout-Nursing Paper Examples).

The intervention group for my PICOT questions is nurses practicing stress management, while the control group is those who will not be practicing stress management. The intervention in research by Don Santos will comprise nurses who can identify their sources of stress and workplace stress.

Moreover, practice coping strategies such as mindfulness and yoga, while the control group is nurses unaware of the sources of stress and do not practice any coping mechanisms leading to burnout. The intervention group in research by Friganović et al. (2021) will be nurses who know about burnout, while the control group will be nurses who lack knowledge and have negative attitudes (Nurses Burnout-Nursing Paper Examples).

Method of Studies

Both research articles used a phenomenological design with qualitative interviews to collect and analyze data. However, the inductive approach by Friganović et al. (2021) allowed the researchers to create a thematic framework from emerging data, while the semantic approach explored the participants’ views, beliefs, and experiences. Don Santo used qualitative interview sessions to collect personal sharing and participant feedback (Nurses Burnout-Nursing Paper Examples).

The phenomenological approach used by both articles is beneficial as it allows researchers to explore and understand groups with people with shared stories and experiences of social problems or issues. However, the method is limited as researchers should collect data from at least 50 groups or individuals (Bush &Amechi, 2019) (Nurses Burnout-Nursing Paper Examples).

Results of Studies

Don Santos (2020), workplace bullying, family stress, being misunderstood by public members, career enhancement, and personal stress were potential sources of stress among nurses. Some participants believe that professional development was associated with fewer responsibilities and reduced stress (Nurses Burnout-Nursing Paper Examples).

However, bullying at work, being isolated at home, and blaming members of the public elicited stress among the nurses. Subsequently, Friganović et al. (2021) found that stressful work demands, lack of leisure time, strained relationships, lack of organizational support, and lack of knowledge about burnout led to poor outcomes in stress coping strategies to curb burnout.

Nurses are essential staff in the public health workforce. Although their situation cannot be addressed immediately, corrective measures should be implemented for improvement. First, there is a need to review the current policies and regulations to offer guidelines about nursing job responsibilities (Nurses Burnout-Nursing Paper Examples).

Secondly, external professional bodies or associations should be put in place to investigate inappropriate behavior, bad leadership, and mismanagement that harm the nursing rights of employed persons. The problematic burnout issue also calls for more research to devise evidence-based interventions on prevention strategies.

Ethical Considerations

Ethical considerations in research comprise principles that guide study practices and designs. First, seeking informed consent is a requirement for every research process. The participants should be informed what the study will ask, how the data collected will be used, and potential consequences concerning the study (Nurses Burnout-Nursing Paper Examples).

The study participant must provide active, explicit, and signed consent with a clear understanding of the right to access information and freedom of withdrawal (Gaderi et al., 2022). Secondly, the participant’s identity should be kept confidential and anonymous to protect their names or use self-identifiable statements or information. The researcher should also consider the risks of harm to the participants. The participant should be fully aware of potential harm in a given study.

Both studies observed instrumental ethical considerations during the research process. Don Santos (2020) observed confidentiality and anonymity. The data was locked in the password-protected cabinet while each participant was assigned a pseudonym. The researcher sought consent, and the interviewed participant agreed to take part in the study. The participant had the right to withdraw from the study without any punishment (Nurses Burnout-Nursing Paper Examples).

Moreover, Friganović et al. (2021) also observed ethical guidelines by seeking consent from all the ethics committees at the university hospitals where the study was conducted, Zagreb University Hospital, and from the participants. The study procedure was also conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki. The declaration is a set of ethical principles that guide medical research, such as respect for human rights and dignity, protection from harm, and observing other ethical, legal, and professional norms and standards.

Conclusion

This paper has successfully conducted a critical appraisal of two qualitative articles identified in topic one. The articles are relevant to my research topic and will be used to answer my PICOT question. My research question focuses on providing evidence-based information on how practicing stress management influences burnout among nurses.

Both research articles used a phenomenological design with qualitative interviews to collect and analyze data. They concur that stress leads to burnout and reduces the quality of care and patient safety. Lastly, both studies observed instrumental ethical considerations during the research process, such as confidentiality, informed consent, and protecting the participants from harm (Nurses Burnout-Nursing Paper Examples).

References

Friganović, A., Kurtović, B., & Selič, P. (2021). A cross-sectional multicentre qualitative study exploring attitudes and burnout knowledge in intensive care nurses with burnout. Slovenian Journal of Public Health, 60(1), 46-54. https://doi.org/10.2478%2Fsjph-2021-0008

Ghaderi, H., Gooshki, E. S., & Kruger, E. (2022). Ethics in Medical Research and Publishing. Central Asian Journal of Medical Hypotheses and Ethics, 3(3), 160-169. http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4631-311X

Bush, A. A., & Amechi, M. H. (2019). Conducting and presenting qualitative research in pharmacy education. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, 11(6), 638-650. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cptl.2019.02.030

Farhadi, A., Bagherzadeh, R., Moradi, A., Nemati, R., & Sadeghmoghadam, L. (2021). The relationship between professional self-concept and work-related quality of life of nurses working in the wards of patients with COVID-19. BMC Nursing, 20(1), 1-8. https://bmcnurs.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12912-021-00595-2 Dos Santos, L. M. (2020, October). Stress, burnout, and low self-efficacy of nursing professionals: A qualitative inquiry. In Healthcare (Vol. 8, No. 4, p. 424). MDPI. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare8040424