What Keeps Neonatal Nurses Up at Night and What Gets Them Up in the Morning?

BACKGROUND: Occupational stress in neonatal nursing is a significant professional concern. Prolonged exposure to morally distressing patient care experiences and other healthcare issues may lead to worry among nurses. When worry becomes excessive, nurses and advanced practice registered nurses may lose joy that gives meaning to their work. Enhancing meaning in work may have a positive impact on nurse satisfaction, engagement, productivity, and burnout. PURPOSE: To explore neonatal nurses' top professional satisfiers and top professional worries and concerns. METHODS: A descriptive study was conducted in a convenience sample of neonatal nurses to identify the top professional satisfiers that get them up in the morning and the top professional worries and concerns that keep them awake at night. RESULTS: Complete data were available for 29 neonatal nurses. The top professional satisfiers were caring for infants and families, making a difference, witnessing resilience, intellectual challenge of specialty, positive working relationships with colleagues, and educating parents and families. The top professional worries and concerns were staffing, missed care, workload, making a mistake, and failure to rescue. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Healthcare and professional organizations must develop strategies to address occupational stress in today's complex healthcare environment. Identifying professional worries and concerns may help nurses navigate challenging and distressing situations. Furthermore, understanding nurses' professional satisfiers may promote personal and professional resiliency and help organizations create healthier workplace environments. IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH: Future studies are needed to test effective interventions that may promote professional satisfaction and help neonatal nurses cope with occupational stressors.

Effects of Exercise on Sleep in Women with Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review.

Sleep deficiency is common and distressing for women with breast cancer throughout the care continuum. This article describes the scope and quality of evidence related to exercise interventions to improve sleep in women with breast cancer. Fifteen studies met the criteria and 12 were judged to be excellent quality. The most frequent intervention was walking, primarily during the time of chemotherapy. Eleven studies reported postintervention improvement in sleep deficiency. Most yoga, qigong, and dance intervention studies reported no differences between groups. Emerging evidence exists for the effectiveness of aerobic exercise to improve various sleep outcomes in women with breast cancer.