Why Emotions Matter: Age, Agitation, and Burnout Among Registered Nurses

The need for increased awareness of the emotional demands facing today’s nursing workforce as well as the need for more experienced nurses to serve as emotional mentors to those just entering the profession is suggested.

Abstract

Knowledge of the emotional demands facing today’s nurses is critical for explaining how work stressors translate into burnout and turnover. Following a brief discussion of how the experience of burnout relates to the nursing shortage, we examine the scope of nurses’ emotional experiences and demonstrate that these experiences may be particularly consequential for understanding the higher levels of burnout reported by younger nurses. Using survey data collected from 843 direct care hospital nurses, we show that, compared to their older counterparts, nurses under 30 years of age were more likely to experience feelings of agitation and less likely to engage in techniques to manage these feelings. Younger nurses also reported significantly higher rates of burnout and this was particularly true among those experiencing higher levels of agitation at work. We conclude by suggesting the need for increased awareness of the emotional demands facing today’s nursing workforce as well as the need for more experienced nurses to serve as emotional mentors to those just entering the profession.