The Process of Critical Care Nursing Resilience in Workplace Adversity

Nurses who practice in critical care settings can face adversity in their workplace. Critical care nurses are at risk for burnout because of workplace adversity, which stems from a variety of social and environmental factors. Workplace adversity is defined as any stressful, traumatic, or difficult experience in an occupational setting. The factors that create workplace adversity in critical care settings include high patient mortality rates, moral distress regarding ethical decision-making, and the increased use of technology. Factors in the health care system, such as nursing absenteeism, the nursing shortage, and high rates of nursing turnover are also influential in workplace adversity. Literature suggests that nurses are able to be resilient and overcome workplace adversity to achieve positive outcomes. Resilience, the ability to adapt, overcome hardship, and move forward holds promise as a factor that can help nurses thrive despite workplace adversity. The purpose of this study is to conduct a grounded theory investigation of the process of critical care nursing resilience in workplace adversity. The research question will be: what is the process of critical care nursing resilience in workplace adversity? The use of in-depth interviews with critical care nurses will allow the researcher to inductively generate a grounded theory. Strict ethical standards will be adhered to throughout the research process. The development of a theory of the process of critical care nursing resilience will provide a framework to target interventions to support critical care nurses in their workplace. Promoting resilience can have many benefits for nurses. Decreased nursing burnout would likely lead to a reduction in nursing absenteeism. This would reflect in a reduction in nursing staffing costs. Resilience also has the potential to increase nursing job satisfaction, which has been demonstrated to improve nursing retention and enhance the quality of nursing care. These benefits will impact nurses and patients, and the health care system.