Nursing is a profession that is present for the best.
May 15, 2015 | by: Unknown
“ Do you still have time for yourself after your shift?” This is just one of the commonly asked questions to Nurses. For those who are called to the nursing profession, each day is as re-energizing as it is tiring. We made this blog to make difference in wellness and happiness for our hard working Nurses.”
Upon speaking with the few Nurses in one of the well known hospitals in our country about their life as a registered nurse, most of them have the same stories. They said living life as a nurse is a rewarding and satisfying profession but it is also not easy. Working in shifts is just as hard on you as it is for family. Shift work can be long and grueling. Many people often work shifts of 12 hours or more varying throughout the week. All shifts are covered 24 hours a day and response time can be measured according to the perceived danger of the patient. You go to work before the sun comes up and you leave work after the sun has gone down.
Compassion fatigue and stress it is were you are emotionally, physically and spiritually exhausted from witnessing and absorbing the problems and suffering of others. You work under demanding conditions in stressful environments. Staffing issues, budgetary constraints, inadequate staffing, lack of teamwork, lack of effective and fair management, coworker strain, paperwork, endless charting – repeating information on multiple forms, miscommunication or the lack of communication, census overload and strain, no time to even use the bathroom and all of these complicate the care that the nurse can provide to his/her patient. Stress in hospitals is unavoidable. However, it can be managed. There are countless strategies and resources available for Nurses to reduce their stress. We become stronger when we help our selves in management our stress.
As a busy nurse, You often find it challenging to maintain a sense of healthy work-life balance. Sometimes you find yourself running from task to task, taking care of everyone around you,only to get home and do more of the same. Not only that, but when you eventually get home you might be so tired that all of your self-care ideas go right out the window. Work can have a way of taking over and things like pleasure, social life, hobbies, and health are often forgotten about by nurses. You might be asking yourself – How can you overcome these challenges? What can you do if you feel that sense of “All I do is work”?
Here are Some Smart Ways to Help you Keep on the wheel to Wellness and Happiness.
Relaxation – This can include breathing exercises, muscle relaxation exercises, massage, aromatherapy, yoga. Relaxation is helpful for spiritual development because it can help you to maintain a calm and unhurried attitude that will help you live according to the spiritual values you develop through meditation. Different relaxation exercises have effects on different systems in the body. Relaxation exercises are provided for relaxing or calming the muscles, respiration, the mind, and emotions. By using these relaxation exercises in combination, all of these mind/body systems can be relaxed or calmed at the same time by Imagine You are floating or sitting quietly or lying down, with your eyes closed and imagining you are floating can be a very effective way to relax. Concentration meditation and Rhythmic breathing can help to slow the heart rate and rate of breathing.
Reaching Spiritual Wellness – It is important for everyone to explore what they believe is their own sense of meaning and purpose. The path to spiritual wellness may involve meditation, prayer, affirmations, or specific spiritual practices that support your connection to a higher power or belief system. Yoga and meditation can also help you develop spiritual wellness. Having compassion, the capacity for love and forgiveness, altruism, joy, and fulfillment help you enjoy your spiritual health. Your religious faith, values, beliefs, principles, and morals define your spirituality
Communication – It is one of the best ways nurses can decrease the stress in their day. Because everyone that in a health care situation is dealing with stress. Having inconsistent communication only heightens the situation. “Patients worry more and subsequently call their nurses more, which wouldn’t be bad if the nurses were always fully informed, and this creates a vicious cycle” , in which people share information fully and openly, stress levels can decrease. Purposeful communication is one of the most important steps to decrease nurses’ stress and patients trust levels rise because they feel fully informed, they become more compliant with their care and therefore can experience better outcomes.
Get Organized – Nurses in particular may get into a mindset where they feel like they have to be superheroes, but they can’t do that. Taking the time to set priorities in your day can help you better formulate plans for how to complete everything. Staying on top of your game and keeping yourself and your workplace organized can help decrease stress by being organized, you’ll establish what you need to do, and while you can’t do everything, you’ll be able to prioritize what you must accomplish.
Enlist the Help of a Mentor – Having a mentor, you may be able to express or vent your concerns, which nurses often bottle up. When you have a mentor, you have a built-in go-to person who can help with you with immediate issues and coach you on ways to do things better next time. Mentors not only help your career and outlook, but also to improve patient outcomes as well. Managing stress on the job is a key way to help prevent burnout. Keep job satisfaction high by looking for ways to cope with the everyday job that stresses you.
Improve Your Nutrition – Most nurses work in a fast-paced environment and are often short on time, which can lead us to rely on fast food that is high in fat, sodium, sugar and additives. Look for ways to add more lean proteins, fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains. With a bit of planning, you can find or bring a healthy lunch and snack to work, which will help you maintain a higher energy level throughout the day and improve your overall nutritional status.
Count your blessings – It sounds a bit cliche but you should always remember that it’s how you value things around you, not how many things you possess, that makes you really happy. As a nurse, you have a lot of things to be thankful about: your expensive nursing education, your very supportive loved ones, your appreciative doctors and patients, and that rare opportunity to make a difference in the lives of each people you meet on a daily basis. As a tip, keep a gratitude journal or remind yourself of one small thing you were proud of or made you feel good. You will be surprised on how little things can brighten up your day.
Learn to let go – It’s given that difficult patients, doctors, or coworkers are normal challenges in a nurse’s life. There are those who might brought you pain in the past but how you will react to all these kind of adversities is all up to you. Nursing is a rewarding and challenging career at the same time but don’t fret because you will learn how to embrace these challenges in the long run. For now, it wont harm if you just take one baby step at a time and accept that no matter how hard you try, Nursing will never be the “perfect” playground for those who are weak at heart.
And lastly…
Be happy – You don’t owe anybody or anything your own happiness so the moment you wake up each morning, it would be better if you just choose to seize the day and put a smile on your face. In addition to that, happiness is a contagious emotion so if you want your patients to feel the same way about their selves, choose to be happy inside and out. We all have our good and bad days so if you are feeling low, don’t you ever forget the first reason why you became a nurse: to take care of your patient no matter what. Decide to be happy and it will not be long before you can notice that your grumpy tendencies is slowly fading away.
Averting stress at work requires a healthy work/life balance. If you allow work pressures to impact on your home life too, you remove a vital pressure-release valve and risk your stress escalating to the point where it can impact negatively on your health. When stress is caused by something that is predictable, such as a long shift or an understaffed ward, it is possible to prepare coping strategies to mitigate against the stressful effects. One of the example is “practice effective time management to avoid work overload; say ‘no’ when others are trying to offload their work onto you; and don’t skip mealtimes and other breaks.”
When you feel your blood pressure rising, take a mental step back and unwind for a while. Think of what makes you relax (a place, a piece of music, a person). Out of work, consider taking up relaxing activities such as meditation or yoga. If you are feeling stressed, it is important not to keep it all to yourself. Talking about how you feel with sympathetic colleagues, friends and family will relieve some of the strain and help you keep things in perspective. Sharing your feelings with colleagues may bring to light similar concerns of theirs, allowing a collective approach to be taken to seeking a solution and it will help lighten up the stress.
We hope you’ve found this article useful if you are experiencing stress at work.