Professional Stress and the Responses of Nurses Caring for Patients with Chronic Renal Failure

Abstract

Nurses employed in nephrology units report that caring for patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) is an unusually stressful professional experience. Just how stressful this milieu is can be inferred from the apparent short tenure and high replacement rate among staff of dialysis and transplant units. Other observations reflecting this problem include the following:

• Some employers require a contractual commitment of at least two years employment in order to recover the high cost of training personnel for nephrology.

• Informal comments of peers indicate that nephrology is widely viewed as a depressing and unrewarding environment in which to work.

• There is reluctance to recruit and assign new or inexperienced nursing graduates to nephrology because of the acknowledged stressfulness of the area.

• Many dialysis and transplant services employ liaison psychiatrists whose primary responsibilities are the support and counselling of nursing and medical staffs who must interact with complex psychosocial needs of patients.