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Role Theory is useful to the nursing profession because it describes how a nurse contributes to an organization from a sociological view and how society influences the nursing profession. Another way that role theory is useful as it breaks down role stress within the nursing profession. Role stress is brought on from various role categories, such as role ambiguity, role overload, and role conflict (McEwen & Wills, 2019). First is role ambiguity, where responsibilities and authority are unclear. An example of role ambiguity is the transition from a nurse into a nurse practitioner. Research by Kerr and Macaskill (2020) study focused on the nurse practitioners’ transformation, where new nurse practitioners are trying to identify clinical expertise and authority within a new role. The second factor contributing to role stress is role overload, where stress is brought on as an individual performs numerous tasks simultaneously. An example of how role overload is translated to nurses is managing an excessive amount of inpatient task within a shift. The last is role conflict when incompatible demands are placed on a their position (McEwen & Wills, 2019). An example of role conflict is when a nurse manager has numerous competing demands, all needed concurrently as the client advocate, floor administrator, and medical nurse. It is advantageous to compartmentalize and identify role stressors as part of the role theory because without understanding them there can not be an improvement within the nurse which will affect their department. To be…
