Decompress?? what works?

Nurses Stress 101

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I will admit, i am fried. But nothing works to decompress/ make me forget the hellish shift I usually have. Today I tried loud angry music. Nope, didnt work. Tried ambient music. nope. I cant really drink, as much as I'd like to, because i have apparently gastritis from all the advil i take.so drinking only causes more pain.even benadryl isnt working. Going on 24 hours up now. The day just keeps repeating- over and over. I jokingly said on the way out I need a lobotomy. Maybe that might help. Then I wouldn't care if I had a bleepy shift.

what would work? Some say guided imagery- I think I have add because I always end up back at repeating the bad day. I cant concentrate long enough to meditate. aghhhh what to do??

I mean , really, I want to not care anymore, so I can tolerate this gawdawful job.What to do?

Thanks for any input.

Personally, on my 40 minute commute home I have a bunch of CDs and I just jam out (I call it car-aoke). I'm only slightly self conscious of the other cars seeing me sing. I find that helps me unwind.

I agree with previous posters w/ exercise. I find jogging to be wonderful therapy, but I know that's not everyone's favorite activity. I like the punching bag idea ^^ Also Netflix!! Nothing puts me in a better mood than finding a new DVD in the mail at the end of the day!

Ultimately, if you've tried a bunch of things and your stress is still high even at home, then maybe it's time for a change.

Hope you feel better.

good question... who cares for the caregiver?

one thing that makes nursing different from most jobs is Mortality Salience. hospitals mainly exist to deal with morbidity and mortality, so mortality salience is a factor that i think gets overlooked a lot when dealing with nursing stress. with this in mind, high self esteem has been shown to act as a buffer against the effects of mortality salience. soo... after a quick google search... we now have some easy ways to increase our self-esteem... no exercise or drinking necessary :)

one funny trick that might work is getting a massage... while playing a tape that tells you how awesome you are... like one of those motivational tapes... yup... "you are awesome. you've saved a lot of lives. you did an awesome job today. you are the best nurse ever. you are smarter than your boss. America would like to thank you for your hard work and dedication. etc..." :)

Sounds like what you need is another job -

Specializes in PCCN.

yes- i was just reminded of that today.if only.

This sounds awfully drastic, I suppose, but have you thought about cutting back your hours? I know it's really tough, given the current economic situation, but to me you sound pretty burnt out. I went through two years of major burnout (during which I also often wanted to drive into the river) and the things that helped me most were cutting back to part time and getting more sleep. It's hard when your job sucks.

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