Hospice Care Nurses and Work Burnout

Paper Summary:

The author of this paper reviews professional literature relating to hospice care workers and the occurrence of work burn out. The author postulates that the hospice care field is one that is young in the medical field, as well as one that currently employs a small percentage of nurses within the nation. The author further contends that when hospice care nurses decide to leave hospice care to either change professions or work in another area of health care altogether, the impact on the hospice is detrimental to the success of the hospice program. The author states that examining the research to determine the causes of job burnout for hospice care nurses is important to develop an understanding of what needs to change in health care in order to retain nurses as valuable members to the hospice health care team.

From the Paper:

"Munley (1993) developed a book that was the result of two types of study in relation to hospice care. Munley (1993) focused on both the micro world of hospice care and the macro world of hospice. According to Munley (1993) the micro world is associated with the immediate participant's involvement with hospice, while the macro world is the full scope of hospice that is viewed within society (p. 13). Munley(1993) states that one world is consistently impacting the other to create a hospice care system that impacts the type of care that patients and their caregivers come to know (p. 13). In order to examine the micro view of hospice Munley 1993) used direct observation of patients and their caregivers in health care facilities in periods ranging from one to six months. Munley (1993) stated that "The information on the macro-world of hospice was gleaned from reading, research, attendance at hospice meetings, and interviews with people involved in the hospice movement" (p. 13)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Burnell, G. (1993). Final choices: To live and die in the age of medical technology. New York: Insight.
• Coopman, S. (2001). Deocracy, performance and outcomes in interdisciplinary health care teams. The Journal of Business Communication. 38(3): 261-299.
• Engels, C. (1999). Health services industry: Still a job machine? Monthly Labor Review. 122(3): 3-15.
• Kleinke, J. (2001). Oxymorons: The myth of the U.S. health care system. San Francisco: Bass.
• Miller, D. (2000). Dying to care? Work, stress and burnout in HIV/AIDS careers. London: Routledge.

More papers on Hospice Care Nurses and Work Burnout:

• Term Paper # 149963 : "Doctors, Nurses and Work-Life Balance"
• Research Paper # 99920 : "Hospice Care"
• Descriptive Essay # 139953 : "Palliative Care Nursing and Burnout"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: