ABSTRACT
Recent studies have described how intensive care settings constitute a stressful environment for nurses [1–6]. While a number of sources of stress exist, a primary source is what Hay and Oken have described as the demands imposed by the “incessant repetitive routine” of constantly monitoring patients’ “vital signs” [3]. In a similar vein, Vreeland and Ellis have described the stresses imposed on nurses by the “necessity for constant intensive observation …” of the patient who “is incapable of control of his own physiological process” [6]. Among the stresses that this engenders are conflicting expectations that nurses be both “objective and firm” while at the same time emanating “warmth and feeling” [6]. Similarly, there are conflicting expectations that they be both ceaselessly alert in processing the incessant flow of objective data and responsive to the subjective needs of patients and their families [6].
