Associations of occupational stress, workplace violence and organizational support on chronic fatigue symptoms among nurses, 2020, Li et al

Paywall, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jan.14312
Not available via Sci hub at time of posting.

 

I've just read the abstract, but from that it sounds to me like those nurses were "frontline" staff. A&E, walk-in clincs, that type of thing.

This means they will be in close proximity to a higher number of people throughout the day and will spend their working day in a work area that has a high volume of foot traffic through it.

So, is it not possible that these nurses are exposed more frequently to a greater number of infectious sources? Not only patients themselves, but also doorknobs, cubicle curtains etc.

But yeah, let's just focus on the stress.....

 

I am not familiar with these questionnaires. But with ME/CFS one can be less well able to deal with stress of lots of types. So it seems possible people with ME/CFS might rate differently the same scenarios compared to a healthy person who might be better able to brush off and/or forget about some challenging situations.

 

I agree, but I also wonder how much is down to stress and how much is down to having ME.

For example, it takes much more energy for me to accomplish a task on a bad and on a good (or less bad!) day. It takes much more energy than it would have taken me when well.

Then we have the double whammy of not recovering as quickly from the energy expenditure.

I find when I am in PEM, my cognition is badly affected and that compounds matters, making jobs harder so they take longer.

Once I hit PEM, I get into a state where I cannot rest. I can lie down but I can't quiet my brain. I'm not worried about anything in particular, it's just my brain is acting like an over tired toddler on a sugar high.

Then I get frustrated.

This looked like an inability to handle stress, or I accepted it as such, when I was first ill. With experience behind me, I think it's less about stress and more about chronic PEM.

There is an element of stress but for me it's not so much about the stresses of daily life, as trying to make the body and brain work normally. Trying to function without knowing about or understanding PEM.

 

Yes, good points. But my basic point was that somebody with ME/CFS could rate as more difficult on average what happened, compared to a healthy person. So one should be sceptical of claims that the people with ME/CFS had dealt with on average more challenging situations in the workplace.

 

I'm wondering if workplace bullying by other staff could play a part in any of this? Vulnerable staff being placed into worse conditions regarding shifts or given roles to force them out.

 

I know people, in the UK health service in particular, who had this happen. A pharmacist friend in particular. She worked in a hospital pharmacy. When she was first diagnosed they were supportive for about a month. Then people complained about favouritism and suddenly she was being out on shifts that they knew were very difficult for her. She had to quit in the end.