Tools
ToolsShaw, Rachel L., Morrison, Rachael, Webb, Sarah, Balogun, Omobolanle, Duncan, Heather P. and Butcher, Isabelle (2024) Challenges to well‐being in critical care. Nursing in Critical Care, 29 (4). pp. 745-755. ISSN 1362-1017
Preview |
PDF (Nursing in Critical Care - 2024 - Shaw - Challenges to well‐being in critical care)
- Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB) | Preview |
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: | 14 May 2026 15:16 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/102901 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/nicc.13030 |
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |