Acute stress and coping in northwestern British Columbia nurses in relation to transfer of trauma patients.

Nursing is recognized as a stressful profession. While a number o f stressful situations are commonly encountered by all nurses, rural nurses in northwest British Columbia face stressors unique to their practice. This study examined a specific situation (transfer o f trauma patients) in which northern rural nurses encountered stress, and the coping resources applied in managing that stress. A qualitative research design was used. Data were collected through four focus groups comprised of emergency nurses, operating room nurses, and critical care nurses. Four types of situations in which nurses felt stressed were identified and included system problems, lack of communication and support, visual impact, and professional discord and friction. Inter-rater reliability was established in the analysis phase of categorizing the stressful situations. Nurses described using both problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping strategies when managing stress. Nurses placed more emphasis on using forms of emotion-focused coping, in particular, co-worker social support. Lazarus and Folkman’s transactional model of stress was also presented as an approach in examining the individual nature of stress, appraisal o f stress,