Nurses at Risk for PTSD

PTSD is an occupational hazard for nursing. It is estimated that up to 14 percent of the overall general nursing population experience symptoms that meet the criteria to be diagnosed with PTSD, which is 4 times higher than the general adult population.
Critical care and emergency department (ED) nurses have a higher incidence of PTSD symptoms. As many as 25 percent of critical care nurses 33 percent of ED nurses have screened positive for symptoms of PTSD. Contributing factors for these areas may be the repeated exposure to mortality and morbidity. Nurses in these specialty areas often have repeated exposure to both the victims of traumatic event, as nurses in these specialties witness more deaths.
Other groups of nurses considered especially vulnerable to PTSD are military nurses, nurses in labor and delivery units, as well as those who are first responders to respond to disasters and may witness multiple deaths in one event. Among many other traumatic events that contribute to nurses developing PTSD are occupational hazards such as needlesticks and threats of violence from the patient and family members.
Another closely related problem is fatigue - a reality in nursing. Every day, during every shift, nurses can experience fatigue of their minds, bodies and spirits. Workload, work hours, work structures and many other factors can indirectly or directly cause fatigue in this professional group.
Professional, caring, competent, compassionate, and courageous nurses are what the public expects and the patients and families who entrust us with their care deserve. As nurses and nurse leaders, we have an obligation to be "fit for duty" when reporting to work, and a duty to construct and support healthy work environments for optimizing professional practice.
I believe this is probably why I am now retired from nursing. Not diagnosed as PTSD - but I have all the same symptoms described above after thirty four years of nursing.
I switched careers to writing - without the stress and worry that someone's life was in my hands. Instead I educate through blogs, writing articles, and books.

Choose to Live- Die in Hell/Choose to Die&leave your children motherless

12/22/10 NY TIMES

Arizona: Hospital Loses Catholic Affiliation

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix announced on Tuesday that St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center could no longer identify itself as Roman Catholic because it violated church teachings by ending a woman’s pregnancy in 2009. Hospital administrators said the procedure was necessary to save her life, and stood by their decision even after Bishop Olmsted excommunicated a nun on the hospital ethics committee. The hospital, which receives no money from the Phoenix diocese, can no longer hold Masses. But Catholics can continue to work and be treated there.

12/27/10 THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC

The Republic recognizes the bishop’s dedication and sincerity, but questions his compassion—particularly regarding the critical case in which an abortion was deemed necessary to save a woman’s life.

12/22/10 

OImsted also said that he was “very much worried” that the affair would divide the Catholic community and that he would “hope and pray” that the hospital would come back to full communion with the Church. “I’m very sad that this will happen, but it would be unfair to the people for me to make as if an institution was Catholic if it wasn’t following directives that are clearly known to them, given to them to serve them. I owe it to the faithful to know what’s happening there,” he said.

12/22/10 WASHINGTON POST

When an 11-weeks pregnant woman suffering serious health complications entered St. Joseph's Hospital, a Catholic medical center in Phoenix, Arizona last year, her care turned into a complicated tangle of moral wrangling that ended yesterday with the Bishop of Phoenix declaring that the hospital was no longer "Catholic."

12/21/10 THE GUARDIAN

"Tests showed that in the early stages of pregnancy her condition deteriorated rapidly and that before long her pulmonary hypertension - which can impair the working of the heart and lungs - had begun to seriously threaten her life. Doctors informed her that the risk of death was close to 100% if she continued with the pregnancy."

What happened to the protection that is mandated by HIPPA laws? Has Bishop Olmsted transgressed the law? Should he be prosecuted?

In general I am against abortion. But there are certain cases where the doctor deems the procedure medically necessary for the mother's health and the fetus is not going to be viable when it is delayed that the difficult decision must be made. Then it should be a private decision between the mother, and her healthcare professionals, assisted by her faith - and after that the law of the land.

Hopefully someday the law will uphold the rights of women to receive necessary medical care in all stages of life.