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The Labor of Nursing


Hochschild's (1983) exact words were "the emotional style of offering the service is part of the service itself. This demonstrates that the nurse's emotion is part of the commodity. The researchers asked a sample of 351 nurses to complete a series of online questionnaires about their lives in work and beyond. The results showed that nurses who were required to display higher levels of compassion were more likely to feel emotionally exhausted and to experience it in their working lives and life outside work. Nurses who had higher levels of empathy felt emotionally exhausted too" (British Psychology 2014). As Hochschild (1983) further stated, "this labor requires one to induce or suppress feeling in order to sustain the outward countenance that produces the proper state of mind in others. This means that the nurse is required to produce an emotional state in in another such as gratitude and fear. The emotional labor draws on the sociological and psychological being. The nurse begins to appear more as an actor or robot with no emotion or feeling displayed at the surface rather than a compassionate human being with genuine care and feeling. The question we have to ask ourselves is to what is extent should nurses force the fake act and when do we draw the line. Should nurses be rated on how compassionate and smiley they are? It seems preposterous to inquire. Unfortunately in today's society we are judged to a much greater degree on the actual interaction regardless of knowledge or skill. Most patients would prefer the more attentive than the distracted.
             The emotional expectations within the nursing profession varies within the clinical context. The type of nursing areas involved determines the emotional presentation required. These areas to name a few include oncology, labor and delivery, emergency, and pediatrics. Nursing practice tends to be concentrated on the more visible aspects of care and outcomes of medicine, such as the acquisition of clinical skills and knowledge.


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