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Shaw, Rachel L., Morrison, Rachael, Webb, Sarah, Balogun, Omobolanle, Duncan, Heather P. and Butcher, Isabelle 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2915-8269
(2024)
Challenges to well‐being in critical care.
Nursing in Critical Care, 29 (4).
pp. 745-755.
ISSN 1362-1017
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Abstract
Background: Paediatric critical care (PCC) is a high-pressure working environment. Staff experience high levels of burnout, symptoms of post-traumatic stress, and moral distress. Aim: To understand challenges to workplace well-being in PCC to help inform the development of staff interventions to improve and maintain well-being. Study Design: The Enhanced Critical Incident Technique (ECIT) was used. ECIT encompasses semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis. We identified ‘critical incidents’, challenges to well-being, categorized them in a meaningful way, and identified factors which helped and hindered in those moments. Fifty-three nurses and doctors from a large UK quaternary PCC unit were consented to take part. Results: Themes generated are: Context of working in PCC, which examined staff's experiences of working in PCC generally and during COVID-19; Patient care and moral distress explored significant challenges to well-being faced by staff caring for increasingly complex and chronically ill patients; Teamwork and leadership demonstrated the importance of team-belonging and clear leadership; Changing workforce explored the impact of staffing shortages and the ageing workforce on well-being; and Satisfying basic human needs, which identified absences in basic requirements of food and rest. Conclusions: Staff's experiential accounts demonstrated a clear need for psychologically informed environments to enable the sharing of vulnerabilities, foster support, and maintain workplace well-being. Themes resonated with the self-determination theory and Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which outline requirements for fulfilment (self-actualization). Relevance to Clinical Practice: Well-being interventions must be informed by psychological theory and evidence. Recommendations are flexible rostering, advanced communication training, psychologically-informed support, supervision/mentoring training, adequate accommodation and hot food. Investment is required to develop successful interventions to improve workplace well-being.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | critical care,health personnel,paediatrics,qualitative research,well-being,critical care ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2900/2906 |
| Faculty \ School: | |
| Related URLs: | |
| Depositing User: | LivePure Connector |
| Date Deposited: | 05 May 2026 10:47 |
| Last Modified: | 18 Jun 2026 20:59 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/102901 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/nicc.13030 |
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