Critical Care Nurses Thriving or Striving through Workplace Adversity
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Critical Care Nurses Thriving or Striving through Workplace Adversity
IRAS ID
263561
Contact name
Nicola Witton
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Keele University
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Sponsor Reference Number , RG-0297-19 SNM
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 0 days
Research summary
The high rates of attrition in nursing are recognised as a social problem (Charlesworth, 2017). There is a wide body of literature which highlights unhealthy work conditions and workplace adversity in healthcare (Hiler et al. (2018), Goldsworthy, (2016), Sawatzky, Enns & Legare, (2015). Workplace adversity can be defined as negative, stressful or an episode of hardship encountered in a workplace setting. Studies suggest that workplace adversity is a reason why more nurses are leaving the profession than are being trained and exacerbating this issue is the aging workforce (Lavoie-Tremebaly et al. 2011). A branch of nursing, Critical Care (CC), defined by the Intensive Care Society (2009) as encompassing areas providing Level 2 (high dependency) and/or Level 3 (intensive care) is not immune to these challenges. However, discussion of attrition in nursing and in CC, fails to interrogate the other side of the coin. That is, there are nurses who do not leave, and little is known about why they remain in the profession.
My objective is to explore and understand nurses’ decision to remain in nursing, in CC specifically. My main research question, therefore, is:
• What reasons are given by CC nurses who stay in the profession for doing so?
Sub-questions include:
• To what extent is this course of action a conscious decision to stay, or simply a lack of decision to leave?
• To what extent and in what ways is this course of action related to the individual's construction of professionalism?
• To what extent is the decision to stay in CC nursing related to other, social factors – either within or outside their work environment?REC name
N/A
REC reference
N/A