How Are Your Critical Care Nurses Doing These Days?

It was a bracing experience, if unsurprising, to read an article in the May issue of the American Journal of Critical Care, entitled “Critical Care Nurses’ Physical and Mental Health, Worksite Wellness Support, and Medical Errors,” written by Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk, Ph.D., APRN-CNP, and a team of 14 fellow researchers, nearly all of whom have nursing backgrounds. As I wrote earlier this week, the study provides strong evidence that the critical care nurses (CCNs) in the nation’s hospitals are not only seriously stressed these days; their precarious mental health—as described by the CCNs themselves—should give pause.