News for nurses roundup: Two new studies released on nurse happiness

Every week we scour the Internet for controversy, quotes and stories related to nursing and the things you care about. Tune in to read our roundup every week!

 

 

 

1. Does your fatigue have anything to do with the length of your shift? According to this study — YES. It does! 

So how did this happen in the first place? Amy Witkoski Stimpfel, a fellow at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, explains:

“Nurses traditionally worked eight-hour days. Then in the 1980s and 1990s, when some structural changes in health care and cost containment measures [were] put in, it was actually less expensive to have nurses work 12-hour shifts, because that [meant] only two nurses per day [were needed] instead of three. So nurses began working these 12-hour shifts. In fact, they decided that they really liked it because it offered better work life balance. Nurses could work three days instead of five, so they had more time off with their family and friends and fewer commutes. And they had more time to go back to school. So it’s really become very prevalent.”

Source: Knowledge @ Wharton

2. Nurses love their career choice, but 30% say they aren’t happy with their jobs.

Harvard Business School professor and author Clayton Christensen describes motivation like this: “[It] means that you’ve got an engine inside of you that drives you to keep working in order to feel successful and to help the organization be successful. It causes you to keep at it through thick and thin. Motivators are things like, ‘I have the opportunity to achieve important things,”I learn ways to be better,’ and ‘I’m an important part of a team.’ If you have those kinds of experiences every day, you’re motivated, and you’ll be satisfied.”

Source: Health Leaders Media

3. San Francisco nurse wins national award for her book detailing her transition to life coaching.

On why she flipped careers:

“I wanted to help people who wanted to make transformative, positive change in their own lives,” said Linda Bark, who runs the Alameda-based Bark Coaching Institute. “Coaching can be for life transitions, business decisions, health–either way, it is about helping a person make a change by listening to one’s whole self. What I invite people to do is to see what information they’re getting, not just from their thinking minds, but from their bodies.”

Source: The Oakland Tribune