Background of Study
The particular article that has been chosen for this assignment presents the results of qualitative research aimed at studying burnout syndrome, and the ways it is manifested in trauma nurses. The source reports the results of the study conducted by Berg, Harshbarger, Ahlers-Schmidt, and Lippoldt (2016).
The clinical problem that was explored by the four researchers is the high level of stress in trauma nurses. It is important to note that there is a significant gap in knowledge related to the discussed topic – too little is known about the ways to measure compassion fatigue and burnout in trauma nurses and practices that can be used to improve the situation. More than that, there is little knowledge of how trauma nurses perceive this experience and cope with stress (Hinderer et al., 2014). Due to this fact, a research problem was identified.
As for the statements made by the authors of the study to establish its significance, they prove that many professionals do not raise the topic of work-related stress and their strategies because they suppose that it may cause a round of criticism from their colleagues. What is more, the researchers state that the significance of the study is related to the negative impact that burnout in professionals may have on patients.
The purpose of the study is to extend the knowledge on burnout and compassion fatigue experienced by trauma nurses, to define their stress triggers and strategies they apply to cope with negative emotions.
Research questions that the study is supposed to answer are the following: How can trauma nurses self-manage their stress? Which recommendations allowing to reduce stress can be given to members of trauma teams? As can be seen, the purpose and the research questions defined by the authors are strictly interconnected with the problem.
Method of Study
Considering the fact that the chosen research article is primarily aimed at studying subjective perceptions of trauma nurses related to burnout, it can be stated that qualitative methods are appropriate for the study. The perspective from which the study was developed included the use of the group focus methodology.
Throughout the article, the researchers cite both qualitative and quantitative studies devoted to traumatic stress and symptoms of burnout syndrome. Apart from the studies closely related to the focus of the research, the authors use diagnostic manuals, systematic reviews of qualitative and quantitative studies, and other books for practitioners.
Considering the rules used to define if the references are current, it needs to be said that all references are appropriate and current due to the fact that the majority of them present the results of qualitative research, and the discussed study is qualitative as well.
Citing the articles relevant to the discussed topic, the authors focus on the information that they find to be credible and deserving attention. Despite that, the researchers admit that certain studies could have been conducted without including the most recent data reported by other authors, such as in the case of secondary traumatic stress (Cieslak et al., 2014).
In general, it can be stated that the sources used in the literature review section help the authors to build a logical argument and understand the research gap that exists in the field better. Thus, reviewing the relevant sources, the authors tend to compare their results reported by different researchers; due to that, their arguments can be regarded as substantial and rather objective.
Diagrams and frameworks can often serve as important parts of studies conducted with the use of qualitative research methods. In reference to the given case, it can be noted that the authors are using other studies not to develop a method but to better understand the points that have not been covered by previous researchers.
Results of Study
Having conducted the research, the authors reported their findings in one of the sections of the article. As is clear from the latter, the authors established that almost all the participants had either low or mild levels of work-related stress. More than that, four important themes for trauma nurses have identified with the help of transcript analysis: stress triggers, symptoms of stress, the ways to cope with it, and job satisfaction. Also, the authors have managed to define the range of strategies applied by members of trauma teams in order to deal with work-related stress. Some of the participants reported the use of group strategies (for instance, discussing their concerns being surrounded by colleagues or coping with stress using jokes). Besides, there were a few strategies applied individually.
There is no doubt that the results reported by the group of researchers can be successfully used in order to extend the knowledge in the field of nursing. For instance, having defined the practices utilized by members of trauma teams in order to reduce stress, it can be possible to apply this knowledge to study the topic even more thoroughly. Thus, other researchers may use the findings to study the effectiveness of the methods. Apart from that, the findings can be utilized by nursing leaders to create a working climate that would involve less traumatic experience. As for areas of nursing that the findings can impact, it can be supposed that they will be useful in education as teaching future specialists to cope with stress is extremely important as it predetermines their productivity.
Ethical Considerations
IRB is supposed to be a type of committee that decides whether a certain study meets the requirements specified for researchers working with people. Unfortunately, the text of the chosen article does not contain the information on authorization received from institutions in the United States. Despite that, the questions used by the researchers did not contain references to personal problems of the participants, and this is why is difficult to suppose that the research can be called unethical.
In the given study, the participants were represented by trauma nurses, and it is obvious that their privacy was protected. Although the research did not involve the use of anonymous surveys, personal data of those specialists who were the participants is not disclosed. Apart from that, it can be said that the authors were trying to implement ethical considerations during the research; for instance, the questions related to the topic were formulated in such a way as to collect the relevant information and avoid making the participants pay too much attention to their work-related traumatic experience.
Conclusion
To sum it up, the described research is congruent and important due to the fact that there is a significant knowledge gap when it comes to perception of stress in trauma nurses. Also, it is important to note that the results of such research can be analyzed and successfully used for professional development of trauma nurses and nurses in general as they allow to identify the most urgent problems related to career stress. Despite the positive perception of the study, it also needs to be acknowledged that the there was a relatively small number of participants and, therefore, the effectiveness of stress management measures identified may need to be checked by other researchers.
References
Berg, G. M., Harshbarger, J. L., Ahlers-Schmidt, C. R., & Lippoldt, D. (2016). Exposing compassion fatigue and burnout syndrome in a trauma team: A qualitative study. Journal of Trauma Nursing, 23(1), 3-10.
Cieslak, R., Shoji, K., Douglas, A., Melville, E., Luszczynska, A., & Benight, C. C. (2014). A meta-analysis of the relationship between job burnout and secondary traumatic stress among workers with indirect exposure to trauma. Psychological Services, 11(1), 75.
Hinderer, K. A., VonRueden, K. T., Friedmann, E., McQuillan, K. A., Gilmore, R., Kramer, B., & Murray, M. (2014). Burnout, compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, and secondary traumatic stress in trauma nurses. Journal of Trauma Nursing, 21(4), 160-169.