Amazing Grace M.

Carlos BSN-3B

NURSING JOURNAL

The Gift of Nursing

Parents, Children's Hospice and Palliative Care Coalition, Watsonville, CA, USA.

As parents experience the illness in their children, pediatric nurses are often a
source of information, reassurance, and even comfort. Especially in the case of life-
threatening conditions of children, the relationship with nurses can provide a "lifeline"
for parents who are truly facing their worst fears. Author Lisa Buell's daughter,
Madison (Maddy), was diagnosed with a rare tumor as an infant. After several rounds
of chemotherapy and surgery, Maddy spent her last months at home with family and
friends, and died in August 1998 at 2 1/2 years. In her essay, The Gift of Nursing, Lisa
Buell pays tribute to nurses and reminds them of the meaningful role they play in the
lives of pediatric patients and their families, both during the course of an illness and
long afterwards.

Work Stress and Job Satisfaction for the Community Health Nurse

By: Carol A. Boswell, RN, MSN

The nursing profession has changed from the concept of the physician's hand-
maiden by the bedside to one of leadership within the community health setting.
With the advent of the prospective payment system, the community health nurse
(CHN) has been required to deal with patients who present with increasingly com
plex health needs. This increased responsibility of the CHN in the area of patient
management can result in the development of stress and decreased job satisfaction.

Research concerning job satisfaction and stress in regard to the CHN is limited
to information concerning English health visitors, stress, and stress in other health
settings ( Butcher & Davis, 1988; Gillespie, 1987; Gough & Hingley, 1988; Stoner &
Wankel, 1986; West & Savage, 1988). These studies investigated the effects of stress
on the individual working in a health setting. The perception of nurses' satisfaction
in their work setting has been studied to some degree in the hospital setting. Mini
mal information, however, is available concerning the relationship between job sat
isfaction and work stress for the CHN ( Slavitt, Stamps, Piedmont, & Haase, 1987;
Stoner & Wankel, 1986). To assist the CHN in mitigating the effects of work stress,
the relationship between job satisfaction and work stress specifically in the commu
nity health setting needs to be delineated. The purpose of this study was to deter
mine the relationship between work stress and job satisfaction among CHNs.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Stress was defined by Selye ( 1976 ) to encompass the responses which the body dis
played in regard to perceived stimuli. Within Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome,
the individual exists in one of three levels of adaptation to stress. These levels are
the phases of: alarm, adaptation, and exhaustion. The alarm reaction occurs at the
onset of stress as the individual initiates the "fight or flight" defensive behavior.
The second phase--adaptation--begins when the body starts to adapt to the stress.
Exhaustion is the final phase which occurs as the individual has expended all of his
or her physical and emotional resources.