Perceived Infant Well-Being and Self-Reported Distress in Neonatal Nurses.
Christine A Fortney, Mercedes Pratt, Zackery D O Dunnells and 4 others
PMID 31972849WHAT IT FOUND
Nurses caring for infants with life-threatening conditions reported greater personal distress when they perceived the infants as suffering more or having lower quality of life.
This association held regardless of the nurse's years of experience.
Key findings
01Nurses' self-reported distress increased when they perceived the infants in their care as experiencing more suffering.
02Nurses' self-reported distress increased when they perceived the infants in their care as having poorer quality of life.
03Years of nursing experience did not change the link between perceived infant distress and nurse distress.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Data came from a single NICU, limiting generalizability. Nurse identifiers were not collected, so the exact number of unique participants could not be verified. The study design is cross-sectional and correlational, so it cannot determine if nurse distress causes perceptions of infant suffering or vice versa. No validated instrument existed for nurse perceptions of infant well-being, so a new survey was developed for this study.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that experienced nurses are protected from distress. The study found that years of experience did not weaken the link between perceived infant suffering and nurse distress.