Nurses’ distress is expected to increase during the summer holiday season according to an empathy study conducted by SuPer and NayaDaya Inc.
The Finnish Union of Practical Nurses (SuPer) and empathy analytics company NayaDaya conducted a study among the SuPer members. The study reveals the nurses’ emotions as well as the impacts of those emotions on their occupation, the working conditions during the corona pandemic as well as the overall situation at their own workplace during this summer.
Over half of the SuPer members experience negative emotions toward their own occupation. The negative emotions are strongly linked to considerations regarding changing the line of work they currently are in. Approximately 60 percent of the members have considered finding new occupation at least monthly. Among those who have considered occupational change, 71 percent experience negative emotions, whereas the respective amount is only 22 percent among those not considering the change. The most common emotions expressed toward nursing by those considering the change are disappointment, anger, and sadness.
Over 80 percent of the SuPer members experience the pandemic having a negative impact on their working conditions. The most common emotions experienced are fear, anger, disappointment, sadness, and compassion. The reasoning behind the negative emotions clearly revealed, for example, the fear for oneself or the patients contracting the virus, adverse effects of using the facial masks, loneliness of the elderly, lack of respect toward own work as well as exhaustion caused by a long-term work overload.
Phenomena behind the rarer positive emotions are, among others, the slowing down of the pandemic, getting vaccinated, mitigation of restrictions, being part of the important fight against the pandemic as well as the experience of surviving together.
Based on the responses, however, the conditions are not improving – close to 60 percent of nurses experience negative emotions in relation to the situation at their own work place this summer.
”Even though in many business sectors the state of emergency is slowly returning to normal, the nurses’ situation remains difficult. Wearing the facial mask for eight hours, performing physically demanding tasks during the hot summer days and fearing for contracting or contaminating the virus, puts an extreme burden on the nurses. No wonder why fear and disappointment were dominating the study results. Regarding the summer, the responses specifically emphasize the lack of qualified substitute nurses, existing work overload and concern over burnout”, says SuPer’s Communications Director Päivi Jokimäki.
”During the past year, we have often recognized the nurses’ problematic situation from the studies conducted in cooperation with SuPer. These newest results reveal the ongoing predicament. While most Finns will have a possibility to recover during the summer holiday season, disappointment and fear, unfortunately, are overshadowing the nurses’ summer. Many of them expect the situation to take an even more challenging turn”, states NayaDaya Inc.’s CEO Timo Järvinen.
The data was collected during 11.6.-16.6.2021 from 2 157 SuPer members and was conducted as an online study.
More information:
Päivi Jokimäki, Communications Director, The Finnish Union of Practical Nurses SuPer), tel. +358 9 2727 9243, paivi.jokimaki@superliitto.fi
Timo Järvinen, CEO, Co-founder, NayaDaya Inc., tel. +358 40 505 7745, timo@nayadaya.com
The Finnish Union of Practical Nurses, SuPer is the largest trade union in Finland for social services and health care professionals with an upper secondary level qualification and for students in this field. SuPer is the only trade union that focuses on the advocacy of practical nurses. For more information: https://www.superliitto.fi/in-english/
NayaDaya Inc. is an empathy analytics company that reveals the way emotions and behavior interact with phenomena and brands. Through data, insight, empathy, and impact, we empower organizations, authorities, brands, and leaders to strive for a sustainable change. If you respect science, empathy, and data, we would love to discuss with you. News and further information: https://nayadaya.com.