Reply to Discussions

This document discusses effective coping strategies for nurses to manage stress and improve job satisfaction. It emphasizes the importance of communication, exercise, and delegation in nursing. The document also provides insights into the challenges faced by nurses and offers practical solutions to overcome them.

Running head: REPLY TO DISCUSSIONS
REPLY TO DISCUSSIONS
Name of the Student:
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1REPLY TO DISCUSSIONS
Discussion 1
As a nurse, I feel truly blessed with such a rewarding profession, especially when I
am receive the opportunity to witness the journey of a patient towards healing. Despite the
overall satisfaction, indeed, the nursing profession is a challenging one filled with adverse
situations of clinical emergencies, erratic shift timings and lack of appreciation from patients.
During such circumstances, maintaining one’s physical and emotional wellbeing can be
extremely difficult (Turner & McCarthy, 2017). However, I have learned that emotional and
problem oriented coping strategies are an effective way to mitigate these stressors. As a part
of problem based coping strategies, I believe the best way to cope with stressors, is to
formulate a personal development plan which can motivate nurses to adhere to adequate food
intake, recreation, rest and maintenance of boundaries between professional and personal
lives. While engaging in exercise may seem taxing, even mild physical activities like yoga
can yield a sense of relaxation. Lastly, emotional coping strategies where nurses get to
empathise and communicate with each is highly beneficial in gaining mutual support and
stress relief (Wolf, Stidham & Ross, 2015).
Discussion 2
Being a nurse, I can truly empathise with other nurses who are compelled to
encounter lack of cooperation and minimum support from co-workers. There have been
plenty of situations where I have observed nurses like me, displaying an absolute lack of
concern to their surroundings which results in my build-up of anger, remorse and
discontentment with my profession. Indeed, an uncooperative and unsupportive environment
has been deemed to result in loss of job satisfaction. However, interpersonal communication
coupled with assertiveness is a beneficial approach for nurses to express their views
(Azevedo, Nery & Cardoso, 2017). Hence to combat these circumstances, not only to I try to

2REPLY TO DISCUSSIONS
calmly yet assertively communicate with my colleagues when I need assistance but I have
also communicated with my supervisors concerning my difficulties.
Additionally, exercise is an excellent coping strategy since it promotes relaxation,
enhances vitality and overall sense of wellbeing due to release of endorphins. I also engage in
reflection and mindfulness to relieve my stress. Reflection and mindfulness assists nurses to
identify their strengths and weaknesses and hence, possibilities of improvement for future
challenging environments (Gillman et al., 2015).
Discussion 3
Registered Nurses (RN) must also adhere to the standards outlined by the American
Nurses Association (ANA) and perform tasks of delegation. Delegation, as noted by the
ANA, implies transference of a task from one professional to another, in congruence with
maintaining personal accountability for the outcomes (Harris, 2017). The challenge however,
lies in delegating to an equally responsible nurses and also in the prevention of being overly
delegated with responsibilities which others could have adhered to. To prevent the same, the
RN must engage in the three components (authority, responsibility, accountability) and five
rights to delegation (right supervision, right person, right direction, right task and right
circumstance). I believe RNs must exercise their power of delegation responsibly. For
example: while delegating a task to a nursing student, the RN must supervise first considering
the inadequate competency. The RN must not delegate critical tasks requiring expertise to
newly enrolled nurses. It would be highly uncooperative of an RN to delegate her activities to
another RN who may be already burdened with several patient care responsibilities
(Magnusson et al., 2017).

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Discussion 4
As learned and discussed previously, delegating tasks to nurses can pose to be a
challenge, considering the lack of support and expertise RNs can encounter. One of the most
common challenges is over-delegation, where a health professional is continuously found to
engage in delegating tasks to others unnecessarily and beyond their scope of practice. This
can be especially observed in physicians or experienced nurses delegating responsibilities to
newly enrolled nurses. I believe to mitigate the same, an organizational establishment of rules
and regulations can be administered which health professionals must strictly follow to avoid
any form of over-delegation (Hughes, Kirk & Dixon, 2018). One of the key issues which I
have encountered personally during delegation is under delegation. Initially, when I had just
began my professional duties, I was very reluctant to delegate tasks despite encountering
situations when I was overburdened with responsibilities. It was only after experiencing
health issues and inability to meet my deadlines did I finally understand the need to delegate.
Indeed, under-delegation can result in stress, burnout, fatigue and increased errors in nurses
(Hughes, Kirk & Dixon, 2017).

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References
Azevedo, B. D. S., Nery, A. A., & Cardoso, J. P. (2017). Occupational stress and
dissatisfaction with quality of work life in nursing. Texto & Contexto-Enfermagem,
26(1).
Gillman, L., Adams, J., Kovac, R., Kilcullen, A., House, A., & Doyle, C. (2015). Strategies
to promote coping and resilience in oncology and palliative care nurses caring for
adult patients with malignancy: a comprehensive systematic review. JBI database of
systematic reviews and implementation reports, 13(5), 131-204.
Harris, M. (2017). Delegation by Registered Nurses. Home healthcare now, 35(9), 523-524.
Hughes, M., Kirk, R. C., & Dixon, A. (2017). How and why nurses’ direction and delegation
skills should be improved.
Hughes, M., Kirk, R., & Dixon, A. (2018). New Zealand nurses' storied experiences of
direction and delegation. Nursing Praxis in New Zealand, 34(3).
Magnusson, C., Allan, H., Horton, K., Johnson, M., Evans, K., & Ball, E. (2017). An analysis
of delegation styles among newly qualified nurses. Nursing Standard, 31(25).
Turner, K., & McCarthy, V. L. (2017). Stress and anxiety among nursing students: A review
of intervention strategies in literature between 2009 and 2015. Nurse Education in
Practice, 22, 21-29.
Wolf, L., Stidham, A. W., & Ross, R. (2015). Predictors of stress and coping strategies of US
accelerated vs. generic baccalaureate nursing students: An embedded mixed methods
study. Nurse Education Today, 35(1), 201-205.