Nurse Managers Stress and Coping

Objective: The purpose of this study was to gain insight into nurse managers’ stress experiences and coping strategies in order to better support them. Design: A qualitative exploratory descriptive research design was used in this study. Subject: Fifteen nurse managers participated in this study. Results: Three descriptive themes related to nurse managers’ occupational stress were identified: role overload, loneliness, and role conflict. We also identified three descriptive themes that contributed to their stress management: sufficient support and advice, taking mental breaks while off duty, and individual coping strategies. Conclusions: Our study proposes two recommendations to reduce nurse managers’ stress. First, for nurse managers who experience work overload, hospitals should support them in learning how to work efficiently and how to manage their response to work demands. Second, nurse managers’ primary stressors were loneliness and role conflict. Nurse managers are known to juggle multiple demands from the hospital nursing director and staff nurses. Although it is difficult to eliminate the role conflict, nurse managers should be guided on how to manage conflicting demands, the hospital nursing director and staff nurses.

Nurse manager’s recognition behavior with staff nurses in Japan-based on semi-structured interviews

Objective: The purpose of this qualitative study was to obtain a better understanding of nurse manager’s recognition behavior. Methods: This study, consisting of semi-structured interviews, was conducted in five hospitals with 100 beds or more in the Kanto, Kansai, and Kyushu regions of Japan. Fifteen nurse managers, who each had more than one year of professional work experience as a nurse manager, participated in this study. Results: We extracted four categories and fourteen subcategories as the factors related to the recognition behaviors in nurse managers. The first category is the basis of the recognition behaviors, which were divided into the following four subcategories: recognition behaviors that they received, perception of recognition behaviors, construction of confidential relationships with staff nurses, and the organizational climate. The second category is the issues that make recognition behaviors difficult, which were classified into the following three subcategories: multiple duties, number of staff nurses, and characteristics of the recent staff nurses. The third category is the factors regarding the staff nurses that must be considered, which consist of the following two subcategories: the characteristics and motivation of staff nurses and recognition behaviors that the staff nurses expect. The forth category is the methods of the recognition behaviors, which consist of the following five categories: watching over and consideration of individuals, evaluation of routine work, development as a professional, opinion sharing and delegating work, and promotion of work-life balance. Conclusions: The recognition behavior by nurse managers is influenced by their own experience, and nurse managers practice recognition behaviors in response to the characteristics of their staff nurses in a busy environment. Our results suggest that nurse managers need expertise in management for them to identity appropriate recognition behavior.

Perception gaps for recognition behavior between staff nurses and their managers

Nurse managers play a critical role in improving the work environment. Important leadership characteristics for nurse managers include visibility, accessibility, communication, recognition, and support. The nurse manager’s recognition behaviors strongly influence the job satisfaction of staff nurses. In our previous study, we investigated how staff nurses perceived the nurse manager’s recognition behaviors and revealed that there was a divergence in practical approaches to these behaviors between the nurse manager and the staff. We assume that one factor causing this divergence could be perception gaps between the nurse manager and the staff. The aim of this study, therefore, was to uncover what types of perception gaps exist between the nurse manager and staff nurses and whether the background of staff nurses, such as years of experience or academic background, could affect the staff nurses’ perceptions. This quantitative, cross-sectional study involved 10 hospitals in Japan. A total of 1425 nurses completed the questionnaire. The results showed that staff nurses considered “Respect job schedule preferences” to be the most important of the recognition behaviors. In contrast, nurse managers gave “Nurse manager meets with the staff nurses to discuss patient care and unit management” the highest score for importance. Four factors (marriage status, age, years of clinical experience, and training background) affected the professional awareness of recognition behaviors. Our results suggest that nurse managers need to consider these factors when they conduct recognition behaviors.