Literature Review

Four nurses in two weeks assaulted at Essentia Hospitals: Nurses say violence is a consequence of unsafe staffing and inaction Minnesota Nurses Association, Brainer, MN; Press Release; 10/28/25Nurses with the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) are once again outraged and deeply concerned after two more violent assaults on nurses at Essentia Health. A nurse at Essentia Health St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Brainerd was attacked by a patient last Thursday, followed by another assault at the same facility over the weekend. The latest incidents come less than two weeks after two nurses were injured at Essentia Health St. Mary’s Medical Center in Duluth. Four nurses assaulted in under two weeks reflects a dangerous pattern in Essentia facilities—one that nurses have been warning about for years.Editor's Note: Continue reading for preventable actions and red flags, "True safety comes from care-based prevention." These were hospital settings; the home care settings your staff and volunteers enter provide much higher risks with less control. Ask your direct care staff for examples of professional situations that were unsafe. Office-based leaders, you might be surprised. Examine your workplace violence policies, procedures, trainings, incident reporting, and follow-up.

Mental health resources: Finding the help you need MSN News; by Lisa Rapaport; 10/23/25 Whether youre coping with anxiety, depression, a substance use disorder, grief, or something else, there are organizations that can help you often for free. Here are some to reach out to when you need mental health support. ...

Life lessons from a palliative care psychologist - and how to support a dying loved one HELLO! onMSN; by Pilar Hernán; 10/5/25 ... Psychological support becomes a fundamental pillar for providing comprehensive and humane care, from managing emotional pain to adapting to the new reality. MD Anderson Cancer Centre psycho-oncologist Fátima Castaño helps us understand the process, explaining how we can support a loved one in palliative or end of life care, and shares the powerful life lessons she has learned through her work.

Strengthening mental health literacy enhances job well-being in palliative care Oncology Nures Advisor; by Megan Garlapow, PhD; 10/1/25 Positive mental health literacy (PMeHL) significantly improved job well-being among palliative care nurses, with job crafting acting as a partial mediator in this relationship, according to a study published in BMC Psychology. These results highlight the importance of psychological resources and proactive role adjustments for supporting nurses working in high-stress palliative care settings.Editor's Note: "Job crafting" is the process by which employees actively shape and redefine their roles to enhance job satisfaction, engagement, and meaning in their work. 

Understanding trauma in the context of direct care work in nursing homesJournal of Applied Gerontology; by Alfred Boakye, Jennifer Craft Morgan, Candace L. Kemp, Antonius D. Skipper; 8/25Direct care workers (DCWs) experience job quality challenges such as heavy workload, low pay, and few benefits. Layered risks such as the COVID-19 pandemic and systemic racism have impacted DCWs, made them more vulnerable, and increased turnover and the precarity of the long-term care system and residents’ care. Findings suggest that DCWs are often crippled with challenges stemming from the impact of COVID-19, work-related factors, and personal factors. Understanding the intersection of trauma provides a detailed contextual description of care work, which is important for developing practical coping strategies, either at the personal or organizational levels, and developing more refined trauma-informed initiatives to build resilience and support DCWs.

Health equity starts at home: Renewing the heart of nursing  Minority Nurse; by Michelle Cortez Adams; 7/10/25 ... I started my nursing career in the ICU, told (as many of us are) that hospital experience was a must. And while the work was meaningful, it wasn’t fulfilling. My patients were often unconscious. My goal was to stabilize and transfer them. I never got to know their stories, their families, or whether they ever found healing beyond discharge. That changed when I moved into home hospice and then home health care. This shift taught me that home nursing is not only a career path—it’s a calling. I saw the impact of my work every day. I helped clients reach personal goals, not just clinical benchmarks. I was welcomed into their lives by name. I wasn’t just preserving life—I was restoring it. Home health care reminded me why I became a nurse in the first place: to form real connections, to bring comfort and dignity, and to care for the whole person—body, mind, and spirit.

Clinicians’ perceptions about institutional factors in moral distress related to potentially nonbeneficial treatmentsJAMA Network Open; Teva D. Brender, MD; Julia K. Axelrod, BA; Sofia Weiss Goitiandia, MA, MSc; Jason N. Batten, MD, MA; Elizabeth W. Dzeng, MD, PhD, MPH; 6/25In this qualitative study, we described institutional factors that may exacerbate, prevent, or mitigate the influence of societal factors contributing to moral distress related to potentially nonbeneficial LST [life-sustaining treatments]. Health systems should consider how health care consumerism influences patients’, families’, and clinicians’ expectations regarding potentially nonbeneficial LST, particularly at hospitals with advanced technological interventions (eg, organ transplantation, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, salvage chemotherapies). Future studies should explore the societal and institutional factors contributing to moral distress for clinicians at lower-resourced hospitals, such as inaccessible advanced treatments and barriers to transferring patients for higher levels of care. While some institutions lacked sufficient structures to support clinicians’ efforts to de-escalate potentially nonbeneficial treatments, policies empowering clinicians across the medical hierarchy, as well as conflict resolution and emotional support resources (eg, palliative care) might prevent or mitigate moral distress.

From burnout to belonging: Creating space for grief in clinical education American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Journals Blog; by Rachita Gupta; 6/16/25 ... While significant progress has been made in addressing burnout and emotional distress in medicine, and in incorporating these topics into medical education, many clinicians remain hesitant and uncertain about how to address grief and distress from patient care in day-to-day clinical practice. This uncertainty exists both in terms of their own experiences and, even more so, in supporting trainees. A lack of emotional processing in these difficult situations can accelerate burnout and further disconnect clinicians from the humanism and vulnerability that are intrinsic to the privilege of practicing medicine. ... The recently published Hospital Pediatrics article by Bloomhardt et al, “Good Grief? Introducing the TEARS Framework for Educator to Support Learners Experiencing Grief,” (10.1542/hpeds.2024-008096) addresses the hesitancy many clinicians experience when assessing learners’ emotional processing during or after distressing patient cases by introducing the TEARS framework. ...Editor's Note: See a related post in today's newsletter, "“Her toes fell off into my hand”: 50 moments that changed healthcare workers forever."

Empath revamping physical, digital workspace for improved employee experience Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 6/16/25 ... [Empath is updating] its physical locations to enhance the workspace for employees. “Some of this workspace design that we’re doing is innovative. We’ve invested in common workplace environments. We have quiet rooms, where people can go and focus on rest, relaxation and ease in the middle of the day. We leave your laptops, leave your phones out of that room,” Fleece told Hospice News. “We’ve invested in common kitchen areas and gathering places that are like a workplace cafe, with coffee, lounge chairs, TVs and things like that, so people can get together and socialize while they are in the office.” Florida-based Empath Health is the parent company of 17 affiliates and four philanthropic foundations. The organization provides care to more than 81,000 patients annually.