Exploring oncology nurses' grief: A self-study

Abstract

Oncology nursing, like many other nursing fields, often provides nurses with the opportunity to get to know their patients and their families well. This familiarity allows oncology nurses to show a level of compassion and empathy that is often helpful to the patient and their family during their struggle with cancer. However, this familiarity can also lead to a profound sense of grief if the patient loses that struggle. This self-study provided me the opportunity to systematically explore my own experience with grief as an oncology nurse, helping me to identify specific stressors and also sources of stress release.

Burnout Precursors in Oncology Nurses: A Preliminary Cross-Sectional Study with a Systemic Organizational Analysis

“…In this study, we wanted to explore external factors that can promote an increased risk of burnout. As we reported before, external factors, such as workload and the nature of oncology patients, can increase the risk of burnout development [18,19,[29][30][31][32]. Poor management and some kinds of leadership style are also correlated with an increased risk of burnout [21][22][23][24][25][26].…”

“…For the same reason, the dimension second-most related to burnout in oncology nurses is low professional recognition; this could be caused by the sense of failure in their role due to the high percentage of death in the patients for which they care [30,31]. Although the overall death rate has decreased in the last years [32], cancer remains one of the principal causes of death in young people; this could lead oncology nurses to feel inadequate in their role [30,31].…”

Prevalence of burnout syndrome in oncology nursing: A meta‐analytic study

“…The prevalence of high DP is 19% lower in nurses than oncologist, and the lower DP recorded in nurses may be due to the fact that they spend more time in contact with patients and their families, empathise more with them and their situation, and seek to treat them empathetically …”

“…21,53 The prevalence of high DP is 19% lower in nurses than oncologist, 29 and the lower DP recorded in nurses may be due to the fact that they spend more time in contact with patients and their families, empathise more with them and their situation, and seek to treat them empathetically. 54 Low PA is 10% higher in nurses 29 compared with oncologists, which may be because this same empathy and greater patient contact produces a negative effect when a patient dies, leading nurses to feel that their work is inadequate, and possibly even to contemplate their own death. 55,56 Although cancer survival rates have significantly increased in the last years, 57 Comparing to other units, such as palliative care, working in oncology seems to be a greater risk for burnout development, as lower prevalence rates of EE, D, and low PA have been found in other studies.…”

Oncology Nurses' Needs Respecting Healthy Work Environment in Iran: A Descriptive Exploratory Study

“…They also commiserate with family members over their painful patient-related experiences, have limited formal opportunities for showing reactions after patients' death, and hence, need to receive professional support and get ready to manage their emotions and feelings after patients' death. [ 35 36 ]…”