A Qualitative Study on the Psychological Impacts of Patient and Workplace Trauma on Emergency Nurses

Abstract

Emergency nurses are subjected to numerous traumatic patient cases on the daily. Literature shows that the experiences of traumatic patient phenomena can have a significant impact on the psychological and emotional well-being of these nurses. Post-traumatic stress disorder and secondary-traumatic stress are becoming commonly recognized issues that emergency nurses are facing. In order to increase our basis of knowledge on this phenomenon, this research study attempts to explore the prevalent psychological impacts that distressing patient and workplace trauma can have on emergency nurses. Using a qualitative and interpretative design, this research study explores subjective discourses of emergency nurses’ experiences with traumatic patient phenomena in seeking to paint a clearer picture of the psychological implications that occur thereof. Six South African emergency nurses with 30+ years of experience working at Tygerberg Hospital were interviewed through structured, open-ended questionnaires on their experiences and were recruited using purposive sampling. Phenomenological analysis revealed findings that show that emergency nurses who experience distressing patient phenomena such as patient calamity and violent-gang cases experience levels of psychological distress such as symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, secondary-traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma. In addition this emotional and psychological distress experienced stem mainly from a) constant exposure to patient tragedy b) traumatic paediatric cases c) emotional exhaustion and overwhelm and d) gang-related cases.