A lot of the discussion on this topic is through the female lens. Men bring a refreshing new perspective about nursing practice & the associated interventions on the unit so if we could extend that to this topic I think it would help. It goes without saying that men do cope differently then women. I'm not saying men don't cry, but certainly we do so with much less occurrence and also I have never seen a guy cry because a patient was yelling at them.
Further, this could be a very beneficial thread to the nursing students of the world who may not have another male preceptor/instructor to discuss this with.
I remember there was this time I had a 3 yr old patient in the Paeds trauma/resusc bay with a bit of developmental delay ( I forget the diagnosis), who wasn't a trauma or resusc but certainly was experiencing respiratory distress- RR 60, don't remember the ABGs, Accesory muscle use, wheezy, 02 84% initially on RA. Basically this kid just got worse and worse over the course of about 4 hours. eventually put on non rebreather with continuous ventolin, not good. We were awaiting and ICU consult (intubation?) the poor little guy codes. He was medivac'd to the nearest children's hospital tubed and vented. It was my first code on a kid still remember that little fella and it hit me. Now I didn't cry or anything but I think the spring in my step was gone that particular shift.
All in all for my coping mechanism sometimes I hit the gym hard (whether that be weights, cardio or swimming it doesn't really matter) after rough shifts kinda burn out all the frustration. I work through the situation in my head (whether it be a particular patient causing the duress or that I just ran my ass off all day no break) and just reanalyze to ensure that I did everything that I could, and if I did all that I could I'm satisfied if not, I learn from it and move on.
Other times I'll crack a cold one watch the game/tv/movie/sit on the deck and review the day again and learn from it, if appropriate. and i don't have alot just 1 or 2- I don't need a benzo drip or a form, know what I'm saying?
What do you do and does it work?
Oh and if you had some maladaptive coping that you resolved and wanna share (sound like a Psych RN much?) that would be sick and educational (especially for the students).
I work in home end of life care. Finding a coping strategy was important! Most important is to turn the feelings off. Stay detached, and don't get involved with the family's personal life. It's easy to get close to the patient and the families - working in their home 12 hours a day 4 days a week it's hard not to. But when things get to me I usually hit the gym. It seems to help the most.
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Nothing wrong with a good cry every now and again! Having a good rant with nursing student besties works wonders because well you know that they are going through the same stuff. Sometimes if you have a good preceptor they can understand and talk you through some stuff, telling them that you never experienced this before...because face it at eighteen you don't have much life experience. For example I didn't know what ''DNR a.k.a NFR'' meant. Never heard of it before I started nursing, not the kind of thing you learn in school! My preceptor sat me down and explained it, then it made sense! Also when things are just like mildly upsetting or annoying rather than cry-worthy, I play guitar and sing away! When things are a lil bit tougher, journaling helps. If things get really upsetting, I call my mom
nickknoxlpn
2 Posts
I work in home end of life care. Finding a coping strategy was important! Most important is to turn the feelings off. Stay detached, and don't get involved with the family's personal life. It's easy to get close to the patient and the families - working in their home 12 hours a day 4 days a week it's hard not to. But when things get to me I usually hit the gym. It seems to help the most.