Work stressors such as understaffing and shift work hurt nurses’ well-being and sleep—even before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a study conducted by researchers from New York University and Yale University.
Researchers conducted virtual focus groups with 23 nurses in 2019, asking nurses to describe their sleep, work stress, and performance.
Nurses’ Well-being: 3 Key Themes
Nurses’ responses revealed three themes.
-“Our Voice Should Matter” – Nurses want their voices heard in staffing decisions.
-“Tired But Wired” – They experience harmful cycles of work stress, rumination, and poor sleep.
-“We’re Only Human” – Physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion can impair performance.
Amy Witkoski Stimpfel of NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing
The findings underscored high work stress and poor sleep before the pandemic and impacted nurses’ perceptions of their performance.
The research authors, led by Amy Witkoski Stimpfel of NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing, said the results illustrate the profound and potentially damaging impact that organizational stressors and poor management practices, such as understaffing and heavy workload, have on nurses’ well-being and sleep.
Researchers note that Covid-19 has exacerbated many of these factors, putting additional stress on nurses’ mental and physical health, and urge healthcare leaders to use these findings to guide decision-making and resource allocation to improve nurse, patient, and organization outcomes.
The findings were published in the Journal of Nursing Regulation.
