Nurse Trauma Management through Social Support
Nurses work in conditions of extreme pressure, and this not only affects their effectiveness at work but also exposes them to psychological trauma. Nurses remain understaffed in the united states, and the few professionals in this field work under highly strained. The outbreak of COVID-19 has exerted unprecedented pressure on nurses as first responders and subjected them to highly demanding scenarios. Nurses require continuous psychological support to manage the stress that comes with handling COVID-19 patients. Peer counseling has been identified as an ideal approach in dealing with the mental challenges that nurses face. However, government regulations that require social distancing have left nurses with few options for obtaining psychosocial help. Social media remains the only practical avenue for nurses to receive support from their peers in the industry. Nurses work in a highly strenuous environment following the COVID-19 outbreak and are susceptible to a mental breakdown; social media, therefore, provides a practical avenue for providing these professionals with peer support to help them maintain mental health.
Stress is a common occurrence at work and can significantly inhibit the efficiency of individuals at work. Bhargava & Trivedi (2018) define stress as a condition or feeling individual experiences when he perceives that the demands of life exceed the personal and social resources he possesses. Stress is associated with depression, lack of appetite, and anxiety. Nurses who work under extreme str5ain are susceptible to burnout and diminished effectiveness in performing their duties. Burnout refers to a condition characterized by physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion that emanates from very high expectations on the one hand and persistent occupational stress. In their ordinary line of duty, the level of anxiety among nurses may rise due to lack of task specification, the emotional demands of patients, and the increasing complexity of their tasks, among other factors (Chaudhury & Mujawar, 2018). The COVID-19 situation provides the ground for increased stress due to the additional duties nurses must perform to curb the pandemic. According to Huang et al. (2020), nurses are susceptible to high levels of stress due to the COVID-19 crisis. Nurses, therefore, require psychosocial support to ensure that they do not jeopardize the quality of care for their patients.
The work schedules of nurses expose them to high levels of stress. Most of the nurses work on a 24-hour work schedule, and in 2004, it was reported that a third of the nurses on full-time employment worked for more than 60 hours a week. The mental demands on the nurses can increase their propensity to commit errors and increase complaints among patients (Preksa and Maheshwari, 2018). the work environment for the nurses provides them with limited opportunities for building personal relationships, diminished appreciation for their work, and reduces their effectiveness at work. Besides, nurses deal with isolation at work and frequently experience change in the work shift (Mubeen et al., 2018). Although this professional plays a critical role in healthcare management, they lack a supportive environment for control of their mental health. Nurses also face additional challenges apart from the demands that their workplaces on them. A study among Slovenian hospitals revealed that nurses received poor salaries, had poor social and peer support, had limited access to physicians and gained little limited access to protective equipment (Dobnik, Maletič & Skela-Savič, 2018). Besides these limitations, institutions expected the nurses to perform their duties based on professional standards. Nurses can, however, obtain positive outcomes from stressful situations. Several methods of stress management include physical, mental, and behavioral techniques and seeking of social support (ErsÃ, & Åžener, 2019). Given the work structure of nurses, peer counseling promises the best outcomes, especially under the restrictions following the COVID-19 outbreak. Healthcare institutions must create opportunities for nurses to obtain psychological support through peer counseling.
Several media equipment is available for nursing staff involved in COVID-19 management. In the Philippines, for instance, text messaging has successfully been used to provide therapy for nurses in stressful situations. Other media like WhatsApp and Facebook have also been applied successfully for offering peer support. Peer support mechanisms for nurses enable them to reflect on their work, obtain psychological support, and achieve empowerment to manage the pressures of their routine duties. The environment fosters a climate of trust and makes a therapeutic purpose for the nurses (Webster et al., 2019). The person-centered theory proposes a mechanism that comprises communication, knowing the person, empowering the person, establishing a therapeutic relationship, shared power and responsibility, and formation of trust and respect (Webster et al., 2019). Peer counseling ensures that nurses freely discuss the challenges of their work. In recognition of the importance of peer counseling among nurses, the John Hopkins Hospital developed the Resilience In Stressful Events (RISE) (Connors et al., 2020). The program was based on the premise that there was a correlation between peer support and safety culture. However, besides the potential of RISE among other peer counseling techniques, there is little utilization of these services by healthcare workers. Peer counseling among nurses has been associated with positive outcomes like increased personal development, higher levels of interaction, and engagement with learning (Ravanipour, Bahreini & Ravanipour, 2015). Stakeholders in the nursing field must develop mechanisms that facilitate increased peer counseling among nurses, especially under the restrictions occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Social media outlets create online communities and can be the right avenues for peer counseling among nurses. The media has been used successfully in healthcare for reaching out to new audiences for health education, connecting with patients and their families, and communication of organizational achievements (Mesquita et al., 2017). Social media sites like WhatsApp are easily accessible through the mobile phone to enable real-time communication among nurses. Social media helps individuals engage in healthy conversation for strong peer support. Research shows that social media is associated with diminished levels of loneliness. Social media communication can help nurses develop coping mechanisms through the promotion of healthy eating habits, engagement in physical activity, and prevention of violence (Mesquita et al., 2017). However, users of social media must beware of the potential mental and psychological consequences of unethical behavior of these forums (Ross & Myers, 2017). Research shows that information posted on social media can be accessed to other users on the internet. Nurses must, therefore, exercise caution when communicating on such forums. However, nurses can leverage the capacity of social media to influence behavior to develop an influential peer counseling culture (Nesi, Choukas-Bradley & Prinstein, 2018). Peer counseling achieves positive outcomes. Peer counseling enhances the competencies through the provision of emotional support from their colleagues (Ebrahimi et al., 2016). The nursing fraternity must, therefore, explore virtual forms of peer support to help nurses cope with the professional demands occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-10 crisis has exerted additional pressure on healthcare systems and exposed nurses to stressful situations. Nurses must, therefore, receive psychosocial support to increase their mental and emotional resilience in demanding healthcare environments. However, restrictions following the COVID-19 crisis has limited the options for counseling services. Peer support has been acknowledged as an effective solution to the mental pressures that nurses face in the performance of their duties. In the face of the restrictions following the current pandemic, nurses can use social media outlets to obtain peer support. The use of social media has obtained impressive outcomes in healthcare systems in establishing patient-doctor relationships, among other functions. Nurses can leverage on the strength of these media to access peer support during the COVID-19 crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the stress risk, and diminished opportunities for psychosocial support for nurses and stakeholders in this sector must consider social media outlets for peer support.