Nurses suffering high rates of burnout, stress before pandemic hit
Canadian nurses suffer from high rates of PTSD, anxiety, depression and burnout, according to a nation-wide survey that was conducted before the pandemic hit. Nursing officials say COVID-19 has increased the need to better support and understand the stresses and impacts on nurses. “We can only imagine how much more severe they would be now as nurses shoulder the stress of fighting COVID-19,” said Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, which commissioned the first-of-its kind study. The findings, said Silas, should result in a call for action to better support nurses in the workplace and to “fix the chronic issues that have made health-care workplaces unsafe for workers and our patients.” A high percentage of nurses reported physical assault on the job, with nearly half of those surveyed reporting multiple assaults. Nurses are facing mental health challenges,” said Nicholas Carleton, scientific director of the Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment, who conducted the study. The results, he said, suggest cumulative exposures to potentially psychologically traumatic events and work stress are causing mental health issues for nurses that are not getting enough attention. Nurses have been among front-line workers affected by the stresses around the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. The survey, of 7,358 nurses, 43 per cent of whom completed all the questions, suggests that nurses are more likely than the general population to suffer from numerous mental health issues. Of those surveyed: One third screened positive for major depressive disorder; More than one quarter screened positive for generalized anxiety disorder; 23 per cent screened positive for PTSD; 20 per cent screened positive for panic disorder; And one in three nurses in the study reported having suicidal thoughts. “Nurses appear to experience rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety at higher rates than the general population, which may result, at least in part, from the experiences at work,” write the authors, Carleton and Andrea Stelnicki, both of the University of Regina. Carleton notes that screening based on the survey is not the same as a clinical diagnosis, but a strong signal that nurses are suffering from mental health disorders at higher rates than the general public. More research is needed, he said. The high rates of PTSD suggested by the survey are comparable with rates among public safety workers, including correctional workers, firefighters, paramedics and police.