NURSING STAFF’S EXPERIENCE OF WRITING IN INTENSIVE CARE DIARIES
Research type
Research Study
Full title
NURSING STAFF’S EXPERIENCE OF WRITING IN INTENSIVE CARE DIARIES: DO NURSES BENEFIT TOO?
IRAS ID
277444
Contact name
Rachel Schofield
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Surrey
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 4 months, 2 days
Research summary
Diaries written by staff and relatives have been used in intensive care units (ICUs) for nearly 30 years. The diaries support patients to understand their ICU admission and treatment by providing information to fill any gaps in their memories. Studies on the patient diaries have focused on benefits to patients and relatives, with very few studies looking at the potential benefits of nurses. Burnout syndrome is widespread across critical care healthcare workers, including nurses (Vincent et al., 2019). Writing in diaries could be protective against burnout syndrome as it provides away to stay emotionally connected to patients. Theoretically, the process of writing in a patient diary may additionally support nurses’ emotional self-regulation skills (Pennebaker, 1997). This mixed-methods project will explore the relationship between frequency of writing in diaries, perceptions of the benefits of diaries, and risk of burnout syndrome in critical care nurses in two ICUs in the South of England. It will additionally consider whether there is a link between emotional self-regulation skills, diary writing, and burnout syndrome. This will be supported by semi-structured interviews with nurses about their perceptions of writing in patient diaries.
REC name
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REC reference
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