“I Don’t Take Orders from You”: How Families and Travel Nurses Impact Healthcare Employee Burnout

Jennifer Scarduzio; Amber Lynn Scott

doi:10.29333/ajqr/18017

Jennifer Scarduzio ¹ ^* , Amber Lynn Scott ¹

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AM J QUALITATIVE RES, Volume 10, Issue 2, pp. 250-263

https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/18017

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Abstract

Intensive care unit (ICU) employees experience specific organizational communication challenges that can increase their stress and burnout while decreasing their overall wellness. Twelve structured interviews and ten hours of observation with ICU employees were conducted to explore perceptions of increased stress and burnout. Multiple factors contributing to negative impacts on workplace wellness and burnout have been identified in previous communication literature, including work overload, time constraints, lack of management support, and role stressors. The findings of this study extended research on two additional organizational stressors linked to communication—patient families and travel nurses. Interactions with patient families since the COVID-19 pandemic have challenged ICU employees, with family members demonstrating overbearing and controlling tendencies as well as persistent questioning of ICU employees. The presence of travel nurses during COVID-19 were identified as a second stressor, with travel nurses’ inexperience in the ICU units creating communication challenges. Pay discrepancies between travel nurses and ICU employees also contributed to perceptions of injustice. The identification of patient families and travel nurses as two significant organizational stressors expands previous organizational research beyond the identification of job characteristics to illustrate how communicative practices contribute to emotional exhaustion in organizations.

Keywords: Burnout, covid-19, intensive care workers, organization stress, workplace wellness

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Citation

Scarduzio, J., & Scott, A. L. (2026). “I Don’t Take Orders from You”: How Families and Travel Nurses Impact Healthcare Employee Burnout. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 10(2), 250-263. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/18017

Scarduzio, J., and Scott, A. L. (2026). “I Don’t Take Orders from You”: How Families and Travel Nurses Impact Healthcare Employee Burnout. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 10(2), pp. 250-263. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/18017

Scarduzio J, Scott AL. “I Don’t Take Orders from You”: How Families and Travel Nurses Impact Healthcare Employee Burnout. AM J QUALITATIVE RES. 2026;10(2), 250-263. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/18017

Scarduzio, Jennifer, and Amber Lynn Scott. "“I Don’t Take Orders from You”: How Families and Travel Nurses Impact Healthcare Employee Burnout". American Journal of Qualitative Research 2026 10 no. 2 (2026): 250-263. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/18017

Scarduzio, Jennifer et al. "“I Don’t Take Orders from You”: How Families and Travel Nurses Impact Healthcare Employee Burnout". American Journal of Qualitative Research, vol. 10, no. 2, 2026, pp. 250-263. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/18017

Scarduzio J, Scott AL. “I Don’t Take Orders from You”: How Families and Travel Nurses Impact Healthcare Employee Burnout. AM J QUALITATIVE RES. 2026;10(2):250-63. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/18017