title: What makes a day at work extraordinary.
abstract: To prevent high rates of nurse burnout and staff turnover, hospitals must create environments that fulfil nurses' expectations and foster positive emotional responses to their job. To gain an understanding of what triggers positive emotional responses, a group of nurses were asked to recall an 'extraordinary day'. Their descriptions were analysed to identify these triggers and to determine whether their perceptions of what makes an extraordinary day change over time. This article discusses the results of the study and suggests that enabling nurses to describe meaningful experiences is a step toward learning what it is they value.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Bristol Hospital, Bristol, Connecticut, USA. fleach@bristolhospital.org
authors.forename: Francine
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Leach
authors.forename: Kerry
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yeager
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003237:Connecticut; D005260:Female; D006764:Hospitals, Community; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012456:Salaries and Fringe Benefits; D012945:Social Values; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017132:Workplace