Burnout and Contagion of Rigorous Care Nurses

Nurses working in critical care have a lot on their plates. They do a ton of tasks, but they don't always get to make big decisions. They take care of patients, manage their time well, and handle urgent issues (Erlen & Sereika 1997). Despite all this, they don't have much authority to make important calls (Sawatzky 1996). High-demand jobs with little control can really stress people out, both physically and mentally, according to the demand-control model (Karasek 1979). In the end, these tough working conditions can drain nurses emotionally and lead to burnout (DeRijk et al. 1998, Bourbonnais et al. 1999).

Burnout is when someone feels emotionally and physically worn out. It happens because of constant stress at work (Maslach & Jackson 1986). Feeling emotionally tired is a big sign of burnout (Shirom 2003).

Literature Review

Emotional Contagion

Emotional contagion is when people pick up on others' emotions, sometimes without even realizing it. Working in a team can affect everyone's feelings, making them sync up emotionally (Hatfield et al. 1994, p.5). Research shows that during conversations, people often mirror each other's tone, behavior, and facial expressions (Bavelas et al. 1988). This mirroring can affect how they feel (Laird 1984).

Another way people catch emotions is by putting themselves in someone else's shoes. They feel what others are feeling in the same situation (Hsee et al. 1990).

No matter how it happens, experts agree that emotional contagion is real (Hatfield et al. 1994, McIntosh et al. 1994). Studies by Hsee et al. (1990) and Uchino et al. (1991) used controlled labs to show this. For example, students watched videos of people sharing emotional stories and then described how they felt. The results showed that students felt happy when the people in the videos were happy and sad when they were sad.

Burnout Contagion

Research on burnout shows it can affect both individuals and social groups (Schaufeli & Enzmann 1998). This means burnout can spread through behaviors in a group.

Many experts think burnout is contagious (Cherniss 1980, Edelwich & Brodsky 1980). The first study on burnout contagion in nurses was by Groenestijn et al. (1992). He found that nurses who needed social comparison info reported higher burnout when they knew their colleagues were burned out. These nurses were more affected by their colleagues' attitudes and behaviors. Buunk and Schaufeli (1993) also suggested that nurses might see their colleagues as role models and imitates their signs of burnout through emotional contagion.

Bakker and Schaufeli (2000) found that employees who talked to burned-out colleagues about problems caught their negative attitudes. Listening to these negative comments made their own attitudes more negative.

Burnout Contagion Among ICU Nurses

Research by Rountree (1984) and Bakker et al. (2003) shows that workgroups can influence how much burnout individuals feel.

Lewandowski and Kositsky (1993) said burnout has been an issue in ICUs for a long time. Other studies looked at its causes, like heavy workloads (Tummers et al. 2002), stressful hours, and job involvement (DeRijk et al. 1998). They also looked at the use of advanced technology (Schaufeli et al. 1995) and limited decision-making power (Tummers et al. 2002). One report studied whether burnout spreads from one nurse to another in ICUs. They tested 1849 nurses from 80 different ICUs for this hypothesis.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we looked at the challenges faced by critical care nurses. They have big responsibilities but limited decision-making power. The literature review explored emotional contagion, showing how people can pick up emotions from others. We also introduced the idea of burnout contagion, suggesting it can spread within workgroups.

The evidence shows that emotions are interconnected in healthcare settings. One nurse's emotional well-being can affect others. The references give a basis for understanding burnout and emotional contagion, suggesting more research paths.