Role stress among nurses prepared at the Master's level in a clinical specialty who have job related administrative and management responsibilities

Master's of Science prepared clinical specialists are being utilized increasingly in today's health care system no only by clinical experts but as nurse administrators and managers. Thus, difficulty arises when nurses are educated in graduate programs solely as clinicians, but are employed in positions that have an administrative component to them or are totally administrative. Role stress (i.e., role conflict, role ambiguity, and role overload) often arises from the immense amount of managerial responsibilities these clinical specialists are required to carry out without prior education or experience in administration and management theory. There are many variables contributing to role stress in master's prepared clinical specialists. This study specifically examined these nurses' job related responsibilities, their educational preparation, and their perceived role stress. Ten master's prepared clinical specialist from five acute care hospitals participated in the study by completing a demographic data sheet, a Stress Diagnostic Survey, and a twelve question personal interview. Qualitative data were generated through the interviews to answer the four research questions. The scores obtained from the Stress Diagnostic Survey were used in conjunction with the interviewees' responses to the interview questions to aid in understanding the role stress the nurses experienced. Data analysis revealed that the clinical specialist do experience role stress in their current jobs due to lack of educational preparation in administration and management. Formal orientation within their work organization and socialization of their roles also played an important factor in the degree to which they perceive role stress. Implications for nursing programs that prepare clinical specialists are considered, as well as protocols for future studies.