Leading the charge: Identifying stressors in nursing leadership

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to examine and identify specific stressors for charge nurses at a rural Midwestern hospital.

Methods: The Charge Nurses Stress Questionnaire (CNSQ) was administered to charge nurses of all units at a small Midwestern hospital. A total of 30 charge nurses completed the survey. The charge nurses completed 25 questions on four stress subscales, in addition to 11 demographic questions.

Results: Study results revealed the highest stressors were primarily related to being unable to meet patient needs. This situation includes when a nurse cannot reach the provider when an urgent patient need arises; when the unit is at capacity with high acuity patients and receives notification another patient has been assigned to the unit; and when the patient is in pain or otherwise suffering, and care is delayed because orders are needed.

Conclusions: Stress was noted by all charge nurses. The levels of different stressors from subscales correlate with each other, and thus an increase in one subscale of stress directly affects the level of stress of another subscale. The level of stress among charge nurses was not statistically significant among the nurses of different age, different units, different shifts, and different years of experience.