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Medical Express: Helping Nurses Cope When Patients Bring Them Down

19 Feb 2023
Nurses work for the good of society, and a new study from the University of Iowa finds they are more likely to feel better about their jobs when hospitals remind them of that.

Originally found at Medical Express

The finding is important at a time when nurses are under mounting pressure from patients and others who increasingly treat them with disdain, in particular through the COVID-19 pandemic. The study finds negative interactions with patients are associated with lower self-worth among nurses, but with help, they are also able to re-frame those experiences as acts of self-sacrifice and that they're doing their job for a common good.

"If people can re-frame a bad experience as self-sacrifice, they can remind themselves of the purpose of their work," said Amy Colbert, professor of management and entrepreneurship in the Tippie College of Business and study co-author.

But the study also found that re-framing those experiences is difficult without a broad support network of peers. Without that support, Colbert says reframing may do more harm.

"They start to think that maybe I'm not making the difference I thought I was, and they become less satisfied with their job and it starts to affect their performance," she said.

Continue reading the original article at Medical Express.

Read the original research in  Academy of Management Journal.

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