Exploring Ward Registered Nurses' Emotional Responses When Caring for Clinically Deteriorating Patients: An Interview...

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Patient Safety
• Healthcare Psychology

Background:

• Clinical deterioration in ward patients is often missed or poorly managed.
• Early Warning Score systems have not fully resolved this issue.
• Emotional influences on patient care failures are underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore ward-based registered nurses' emotions.
• To investigate emotion-driven behaviours in patient care.
• To understand the impact of emotions on caring for deteriorating patients.

Main Methods:

• Descriptive interview study using Affective Events Theory.
• Purposive sampling of UK registered nurses with experience in patient deterioration.
• Semi-structured interviews analyzed thematically and deductively.

Main Results:

• Negative emotional responses were predominant.
• Affect-driven behaviours included vigilance and increased bedside presence.
• Judgement-driven behaviours led to reduced motivation and intentions to leave nursing.

Conclusions:

• Emotional responses significantly shape immediate nursing behaviours, impacting patient care.
• Short-term coping mechanisms may increase burnout risk.
• Emotions influence nurses' long-term professional attitudes and retention.