Work Strain Factors Among Caregivers

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: 1,0, University of Applied Sciences Berlin, language: English, abstract: The demographic change within the German population and the increasing number of geriatric multimorbid diseased patients will cause a rising demand for nursing care in the future. At the same time the number of young nurses to provide care in nursing homes will decrease. Therefore, nurses for the elderly should be able to remain working healthy in their jobs as long as possible.

Concerning the physical work strains, geriatric nurses often have to work standing, in strenuous posture or have to lift and carry weights, which exceed 10 kilograms for women. These strains can result in health disorders of the neck, shoulders and lower back.

Concerning the mental work strains, nurses seem to handle the present emotional requirements from disease, suffering and death quite well and perceive handling aggressive and uncooperative residents as being more challenging. These behaviors are mainly shown by residents, who suffer from dementia. When being discontent with the quality of care, geriatric nurses seem to burn out faster compared to content nurses for the elderly.

Concerning the organizational work strains, staff shortage and the linked time pressure are perceived as stressful by geriatric nurses. Nurses for the elderly perceive having too little time for the residents¿ psychosocial support, which reduces the perceived quality of care and hence leads to discontent, which might result in burn-out.

Therefore, the status of employees¿ sickness of geriatric nurses is above average. This tendency can be perceived in both, cases of illness as well as in average endurance. Regarding the underlying diseases, diseases of the muscles and the skeleton system, of the respiratory system and of the psyche are the most important ones.

To reduce these work strains and thus improve the employees¿ health status, several measurements should be conducted by employers. These compass providing devices for avoiding physical work strains from carrying, lifting and turning residents. To avoid mental work strains, employees should be able to participate by making suggestions, when planning the service schedule, receive training and have professional leaders who obtain core leadership competencies.