Nursing Industry: Where Rescuers become the Victims

The study explores the psychological and social experiences of nursing job. Research gap exists in the literature in terms of limiting emotional labour in nursing around patients, thereby neglecting the emotional labour that nurses perform with patients' relatives, doctors and other social actors. The study aimed to firstly understand the emotional labour performed by nurses with respect to patients and their relatives, doctors and the organization. Another aim was to investigate the consequences of emotional labour. The study involved in-depth interviews with nurses in Indian context. It was found that nurses face emotional dilemmas with patients, patients' relatives and organizational demands. In some cases, medication errors and turnover were found to be related to emotional labour. The study enhances the understanding about emotional labour in nursing and is one of the initial studies in the Indian context.