Dealing with Stress at Work

[Davey Do]

Davey Do said:

When stressed at work, I have been known to go curl up in a corner, get into a fetal position, stick my thumb in my mouth, cry loudly, and soil myself.

I'm only kidding.

I don't really soil myself!

There have been several threads and articles on this subject and I'd like this thread to be an interactive one on methods we've employed that have worked for us!

[Davey Do]

Racer15 said:

I see a therapist and a psychiatrist.

Years ago, I attended a seminar on stress and the speaker was a psychologist. He said, "We learn to deal with stress through experiencing stress".

To be able to have the services of therapeutic guides and/or the assistance of medication regime can assist us through stressful situations, or lifetimes, if need be.

For every day that we make it through while experiencing stress, we are also learning ways in which to deal with stress.

The very best to you in dealing with your stress, Racer15!

[Davey Do]

brandy1017 said:

I pray before work begging for a good night and to stay calm when stressed and to get along with my patients, their families and fellow staff and supervisors. But when the **** hits the fan I usually forget to pray. I find a patient's anger or anxiety wears on me and then I just count down the hours till I can clock out. I wish we had valium aerosal dispensers for both the patients and the staff. lol

Richard Bach wrote, "We teach best what we most need to learn". In sharing our ways and means of dealing with stress with others, we are relearning and reinforcing that which we know works.

If we can just act the part of being a relatively stress free person, it will reinforce that calm we have within us. We can learn calmness by teaching calmness. In other words, when the feces hits the fan we need to treat ourselves as we would want to treat another and teach ourselves how to be calm.

Self-talking or saying a prayer or a spiritual reminder can be useful in our endeavors to deal with stress.

brandy1017 said:

I love jasmine and orange oil, sometimes I imbibe on some orange aromatherapy compliments of the hospital! lol I love flowers and keep them around to look at whenever a patient leaves some for the staff. Also I like to listen to music.

Sweets and soda are my downfall, but when I'm stressed I totally lose my appetite until I clock out, go home, eat breakfast and go to sleep, bad habit I know.

I once made a self hypnosis video that really helped me overcome my anxiety over sheath pulls. I used to dread them thanks to a few bad experiences in the beginning. They're not my favorite thing, but I can handle them when I have to.

I love listening to flutes, especially Asian bamboo flute music, very relaxing. You can find all sorts of meditation music and hypnosis videos on youtube. They are worth a try.

Obviously you have some good methods of stress relief in place, Brandy1017: aromatherapy, avoidance of no or low nutritional snacks, self hypnosis, and soothing music.

Dealing with stress isn't always an "I"m cured!" Dealing with stress is sometimes like working a program of recovery: It must be practiced every day, and sometimes all day long. Even when we aren't under stress, we need to continue our therapy and make a habit of it.

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

Has anyone watched the new Roseanne reboot? I'm not a Republican, let alone a die Hard Trump fan, far from it; but this show is a hoot. Talk about a stress buster! Couldn't stop laughing, a total redneck gut-buster!

PS Probably shouldn't watch at work, although I suppose someone could sneak it on their I-Phone. But it would be hard to hide because everybody would be wondering what you were laughing about. LOL

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

When I worked nights, my favorite thing to do after sending my kids off to school was to take a long hot bath in this huge garden tub we had in the master bathroom. Sometimes I fell asleep in there and didn't know it until I slid down and snorfled water up my nose. But it did wonders for my disposition especially when I'd had a bad night. And toward the end of that particular job, almost *all* of them were bad nights.

[sallyrnrrt, ADN, RN]

I've been known, to announce, " I may not be the nurse for you "

[cardiacfreak, ADN]

My stress reliever is sitting in my car singing along with Prince blaring loudly out of my speakers.

[Orion81RN]

I'm embarrassed to say I punched a door at work once. Had a Pt who was a physician that was a real piece of work. Actually, she wasn't even my patient. I was helping her nurse with her wound care while the entire time the high and mighty M.D kept snapping saying we didn't know what we were doing. One day the perfect storm hit, and I just snapped after walking out of her room. I punched the med room door.....in front of other nurses and CNAs. Yeah....that really happened. To this day I can't believe I did that. But anyhoo, that was last week...

Jk, a few years ago

[Racer15, BSN, RN]

I got so bad at one point that my director, manager, and CNO, pulled me into the office and told me I was getting help immediately, and had to sign into my own ER, where they deemed me too high risk to go home. My stress had creeped up on my just slowly enough that I didn't realize the pit it had thrown me into until I was a danger to myself. Therapy has been a great help and taught me coping mechanisms. I'm not the only nurse in my ED utilizing regular therapy. It's nice to be able to say whatever you want and vent to a confidential third party!

[Davey Do]

Thank you all for sharing, and a special thanks to Orion and Racer who shared their sensitive stories. Self-examination and to admit our shortcomings is a difficult thing to do.

Early in my nursing career, as an LPN, I was complaining of a patient's behavior to an RN. She gave me a perspective that I still use to this day- she said, "Remember: any of these patients could be you. You could be any of these patients. There for the grace of God go I".

I am better than no one else. No one else is better than me. We are all equals. This concept helps me to deal with the stress of a high maintenance patient. And many times, I can see myself in them, which lessens my frustration and helps to keep me humble.

These methods of dealing with stress have to be practiced regularly, else I find myself on a high horse invariably to be knocked off. Again.

[K+MgSO4, BSN]

brandy1017 said:

I highly recommend getting a massage to deal with shoulder and back stress. They are wonderful, along with a hot bubble bath or a hot tub soak if you have

I'm a 6 ft tall woman living in Australia. Between my height and permanent water restrictions bubble baths are a concept I have never enjoyed due to an inability to have all parts of me covered by water in a bath

One of our chronic EDS pt mother is a masseuse who gives the staff 15 min sessions when her son is in. That and some physio helps.

[Kitiger, RN]

As soon as I realize that I'm tense or irritable, I try to remember when I last ate. Since I work private duty home are, I carry my lunch. Sometimes, the only way to know if I've eaten recently enough is to look in my bag, to see how much food is left for my 10 or 12 hour shift.

Usually, there's too much left (I forgot to eat earlier). If I eat when I feed my client, I do much better.

My BMI is 25, yet I forget to eat at work. How do these match?

[audreysmagic, RN]

Kitiger said:

As soon as I realize that I'm tense or irritable, I try to remember when I last ate.

My BMI is 25, yet I forget to eat at work. How do these match?

Oh, I feel you on that! Hangry is a very real thing. But it's so easy to get busy with work and know you should eat, but want to do just one more thing... Self-care is so important in this field, no matter what your specialty.