nurse, assisted by a physician and physiotherapist, is responsible for the programme.

Preliminary findings with 15 intervention group and 25 control group subjerts show a clear difference in ps>-chosocial status in favour of the intervention group al 3 months, less pronounced at 6 months. Intervcn- tion group mcmbrrs had better support from and rela- tions with the family. and returned to work faster dcspitc more chest pain. ‘I’hey also improved their physical condition. Results indicate that holistic IT- hnbilitation increases coping abilities.

The stress audit: Identifying the stressors and coping strategies of emergency care nurses Helen K Burns. RN MN Assistant Director of Nursing Critical Cart M:estmorcland Hospital, Grecnsburg. PA. USA

‘l‘hr pact and uncertainty of emergency care provide challcngc and satisfaction. Howcvcr, challenge can brromc distress whrn adcquatc support is not present. ‘l‘hc objrctives of this rcscarch were: 1. ‘1‘0 determine why Emergency Department (ED)

nurses originally entered this speriality. 2. IO idrntify which aspects of their nursing practice

ED nurses perceive as producing the greatest stress <tnd providing them with the greatest satisfaction.

3. ‘1’0 dctcrminc whether length of ED experience in- tlucnccz ED nurse perceptions or choice of methods used to manage stress.

A qamplc of 104 Emergency Department nurses wcrc surveyed, using two questionnaires to identify sources of stress and satisfaction in emergency nursing and c.opill,q methods used to manage stress.

Intrll~~c-tual challcngc (21”,,) and opportunities for lrarning I ‘LO”,,; rankrd highest as attractions to emer- scnc~ nursing. Inadequate staffing and working with apathetic inr.\pcriencrd physicians were thr greatest

sources of stress. Patient improvement, progress. and recovery were the greatest sources of satisfaction.

There was a significant differcncr in pcrrcptions rxpressed by respondents with more or lcsv than 2 years emergency nursing experience. ‘This indicatrd that emcrgrncy department nurses ncccl more’ than 2 years experience to enable thrm to brlirt-c that their knowledge is current, their judarments rchpcctcd, and that they arc part of thr unit team.

Stressors of critical care nurses: a replication study Ruth B Craddock PSN Associatr Professor. I:nivcrsity of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky. L’SA

The purposes of this study wrrc to rcfinc the Critical Care Stressors Questionnaire iCCSQ: to identify thr typr and drgrcr of strrssors of nurses in critical cart areas, and to examine the relationship brtwccn thcsc stressors and drmographic. social and work factors. ‘I’hr thcorctiral framc\vork used was Nrumans S> stems Model.

A random samplr of 293 critical care nurses in IO southeastern states in the USA complctrd the CCSQ. ‘I’he instrument has a high level of rrliability hut further work on construct validity is ncccssar!-.

Extrapersonal strrssors were percrivrd to bt more severe than intrapersonal or interpersonal strrssors. which supports previous findings. Extrapcrsonal stres- sors which created moderate to scverc stress for the majority of nurses w-err [a) many patirnts die in the unit 1 bj equipment failure 1 c) not enough time to give ‘good nursing cart’ id, inability to get compctcnt rc- placements for experienced personnel.

Nurses with 3 5 years critical cart cxpcricncr pcr- ccivcd their cxtrapcrsonal stressors as lrsa srvrrc than did those with morr or lrss cxprrirncc. Houcvrr dip- loma nurses pcrceivrd thrsc strrssors as morr srvcrc than did those bvith associate. baccalaurcatr or highrr degrees