Even under normal circumstances, nursing can be a stressful profession. The COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbates it.
Even under normal circumstances, nursing can be a stressful profession. The COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbates it.
New research led by Marian Reven, a Ph.D. student in the West Virginia University School of Nursing, suggests that aromatherapy may reduce nurses’ on-the-job feelings of stress, anxiety, exhaustion and being overwhelmed. Her pilot study results appear in the International Journal of Professional Holistic Aromatherapy.
“If we can improve our nurses’ emotional reserves and give them more resiliency by using aromatherapy—give them a place to step back, to do some mindfulness—we’re doing a good thing at the other end of it by improving patient care,” she said.
In an eight-week study, she and her colleagues—WVU researchers Janelle Humphrey-Rowan and Nina Moore—provided aromatherapy patches to 19 nurses who worked at the Infusion Center at the WVU Cancer Institute. The nurses affixed the patches to the badges they wore on lanyards around their necks. The patches were infused with a citrusy blend of essential oils: lemon, orange, mandarin, pink grapefruit, lemongrass, lime and peppermint.
Read more at West Virginia University
Image: Aromatherapy may alleviate on-the-job stress in nurses, suggests a new study led by Marian Reven, a doctoral student in the WVU School of Nursing and a registered nurse with WVU Medicine. (Credit: Jennifer Shephard/West Virginia University)
