Date of Conferral

5-25-2024

Date of Award

May 2024

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Health Services

Advisor

Magdeline Aagard

Abstract

Workplace fatigue has been empirically linked with errors, injuries, and chronic health issues that negatively impact the healthcare worker, patients, and staff with whom that person comes in contact, as well as the organization for which that person works. The experience of fatigue in clinical nurse managers (CNMs) has been understudied. The purpose of this study was to understand the individual experience of fatigue and its professional and personal impacts as more fully described by CNMs. The research question that guided this study involved the professional and personal impact of fatigue as described by CNMs. The occupational fatigue in nursing model underpinned this descriptive, phenomenological study. A total of nine purposively selected CNMs from three Midwestern academic medical centers participated in semi-structured, individual, in-depth interviews. Following Giorgi’s four step data analysis process, meaning units were identified, categories developed, and themes described. Key themes included feelings of guilt, exhaustion, anger, and sadness related to fatigue, as well as relationship difficulties with their partners and their children related to the fatigue they experienced. Implications for positive social change include reduction in the level of fatigue experienced by CNMs that could result in reduction of errors, injuries, and chronic health issues that could also positively affect outcomes for patients, staff, and organizations.

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