Nurse Leader Experiences with Supporting the Return to Work (RTW) of Nurses Following Operational Stress Injury (OSI)
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Background: Nurses are exposed to potentially psychologically traumatic events in the workplace which can lead to operational stress injuries (OSIs). Workplace reintegration after an OSI can be challenging, especially with repeated exposure to potentially traumatic scenarios, returning to the site of their initial injury, and workplace demands. Nurse leaders, such as unit managers, patient care managers, and clinical nurse educators, have the unique role of assisting OSI-injured nurses with their reintegration into the workplace after injury. Objective: This study aims to examine nurse leaders’ experiences on the return-to-work (RTW) process for nurses recovering from OSIs, and to identify barriers and opportunities to improve reintegration practices in healthcare settings. Theoretical Framework: This study adopts a systems-level perspective, drawing on organizational behavior and trauma-informed care theories to explore individual, managerial, and organizational influences on RTW experiences. Methods: This thesis used qualitative descriptive analysis to explore the RTW processes of nurses. It consists of both a (1) literature review that explored the current state of the literature, and (2) qualitative study that used semi-structured interviews conducted with nursing leaders across Alberta, Canada to capture leadership perspectives. Results: Four articles meeting inclusion criteria and transcripts from 12 interviewed nurse leaders were thematically analyzed to identify issues impacting RTW across micro, meso, and macro levels. Based on the literature, effective support relies on a combination of organizational structure, interpersonal skills of the RTW coordinator, case management expertise, and flexibility. Three key themes emerged from the interviews: 1) micro level: psychological impacts for the individual, 2) meso level - leadership approaches to RTW and deficiencies, and 3) macro level - organizational structure and workplace culture inclusive of challenges such as the invisibility of psychological injuries, leadership gaps, and systemic cultural barriers to effective reintegration of OSIs. Conclusions: The study revealed critical deficiencies in current RTW practices in nurses with OSI’s, underscoring the need for trauma-informed leadership, integrated mental health support, adequate leadership training and organizational cultures that prioritize psychological well-being. Addressing these gaps is essential for improving retention, recovery outcomes, and workplace health.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.008 | 0.023 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.006 | 0.003 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.003 | 0.002 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.003 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".