Meyer, 1993).
Job Satisfaction/Job Dissatisfaction Problems Associated With Stress and Burn-Out
As a result of a combination of factors (increasing costs of health care, changing societal values, advances in treatment therapies, changing demographics, and many others), the delivery of health care services in the United States is undergoing rapid and important change in the last years of the twentieth century. Increased use of the health care system, and increasing costs are major factors involved in changes in delivery of services (Kayser, 1997).
The increased use of the health care system creates additional demands for professional health care personnel. At the same time, however, pressures on health care delivery institutions to control costs causes these institutions to attempt to constrain wage and salary levels for health care personnel. One result of the dichotomy involving these two factors is a decline in the attractions of nursing, at the very time when demand for nursing services is increasing (Kayser, 1997).
The causes of the shortage of advanced practice nurses, including nurse anesthetists, are many and varied. On one level, the personnel shortage itself is also a cause because the stresses introduced into the practice of nursing by over-work (resulting from the personnel shortage), in turn, causes many more nurses to leave the profession. The stresses associated with the contemporary practice of nursing also lead to an increase in the rate of burn-out among professional nurses. Burn-out, in turn, is a crucial factor in the development of performance impairment among professional nurses. Burn-out is a relatively common phenomenon in many fields of endeavor; however, it is particularly acute in the nursing practice. Burn-out, together with the actions of personnel before this point is reached, lead to high rates of personnel turnover, decreased levels of productivity, and declining quality levels in duty...