By: Ahrani Pathmasuhinthan
Working with children requires a nurse’s undivided attention and patience. One cannot imagine the large levels of responsibility that come along with the job. Issues relating to children are more stressful, potentially producing an elevated level of psychological burden for nurses leading to traumatization. Nurses are critical to children with psychological issues due to the fact that they are one of the largest groups of healthcare workers who come into contact with children. Some of the most significant nursing conditions are the emotional work, emotional attention and the empathetic care given to a child and their family. Working with critically ill children is emotionally challenging and as a result, nurses require more emotional support themselves.
According to research done in 2013, working with children with psychological issues have negative influences on nurses, particularly those working in the pediatric field.
Nurses working in different pediatric and trauma departments (90 responders) and nurses working in normal wards served as the control group in the study. It’s been reported that nurses working with children in trauma units were much more mentally affected. 82.2% nurses agreed that children’s mental health influenced their work and had said that children’s mental support would be crucial and that the permanent presence of psychologists on these wards would be necessary. Nurses in pediatric and trauma departments frequently confront situations in which they are unable to respond appropriately to a child’s reaction, which they describe as unpleasant. They believe that events like such have an impact on their family life and their behavior. Bursch et al. (2018) discovered that 24% of nurses working in pediatric critical care units had PTSD, 20% had anxiety, and 30% had depression symptoms, according to a questionnaire study of 115 nurses.
“My job can be wonderful, but the reality is so much harder than I expected. It feels like it’s not safe sometimes.” This is how a nurse recalls her experience working with children who have psychological issues. She says how some days she would leave work feeling extremely happy helping children and thinking about the impact she might have on someone’s life just by having a conversation. Tears, stress, a shortage of staff, and the inability to aid those who need me the most stand in contrast. The loudest childrens frequently receive the most attention, while the quietest patients who are suffering are frequently overlooked. Seeing psychotic patients attack staff and yell at other patients because they are unable to manage themselves makes her want to help them more, but she is unable to do so as a nurse. She experienced times where she could have a child ingest razor blades only to self harm them.
In conclusion, while child mental health nurses are important in improving a kid's mental health, they can also take a huge emotional toll on the nurses as well. Nurses deal with traumatized children on a daily basis, which requires a great deal of emotional strength. It’s important that nurses also get a break while helping children deal with psychological issues, and we should be grateful to the nurses for their hard work, dedication and sacrifice.
References:
file:///C:/Users/Owner/Downloads/The_psychological_burden_experienced_by_paediatric.pdf
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