Resilience, Moral Distress, and Job Satisfaction Driving Engagement in Emergency Department Nurses

AIM: The aim of this study was to explore how resilience, job satisfaction, and moral distress affect emergency department (ED) nurses' workplace engagement. BACKGROUND: Stressful nursing workplace conditions increase moral distress. Lowering moral distress and improving resilience can increase workplace engagement. METHOD: Semistructured qualitative interviews were conducted with 15 ED nurses. RESULTS: Participants indicated that greater nursing experience, increased confidence in skills, ability to overcome emotional stressors, and more satisfaction with patient care all improved resilience and workplace engagement. Morally distressed, disengaged nurses reportedly lacked workplace autonomy and/or ability to make workplace changes or worked in hostile and/or unsafe workplaces. Engaged nurses invested more time in their job and were more willing to remain in their workplace. CONCLUSION: Retaining older, more experienced nurses, valuing staff work, and creating a meaningful workplace foster workplace engagement. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Nurse managers can support nurses' workplace engagement through interventions that build resilience, lower moral distress, and increase job satisfaction.