Help Needed for Project- Managing Emotional Labor

allnurses Guide · Jul 19, 2018

What company are you with and how would our answers contribute to your profit? I am not opposed to participating, but I prefer to know beforehand what I am participating in.

Tools · Jul 19, 2018

Thank you for asking me to clarify. I am with no company. I am a university professor and I am receiving no outside compensation for this work outside of my ordinary salary. University professors are expected to make research and service contributions as part of their regular appointments. I am working with students who are providing their services for free to gain experience. I am pursuing this topic as a research interest in the hopes of making a contribution to the nursing and design professions. I may apply some of the most useful feedback anonymously in an academic paper. If we are successful we might one day receive grant funding to develop a concept, but this is a long way off at this stage.

Davey Do · Jul 19, 2018

1. Which of the 19 emotions listed do you find most challenging? Why?
Anger
Irritability
Frustration
Impatience
Resentment

These are the most challenging emotions I experience which interfere with my ability do regulate emotionally and which affect my performance. If I get ticked off at a co-worker or patient, etc, it's difficult for me to stay focused on priorities. This doesn't mean I can't stay focused and do my job, it just means they're the most challenging of the emotions listed.

The reason why I find these emotions so challenging is probably because of my personality which has a tendency to be... oh, for lack of a better word, "flamboyant".

I was born in the Chines year of the rooster, have some experiences with real roosters, and both the sign and animal fit my personality to a tee: I am flamboyant but look out for my hens- my loved ones and those who have been designated as my charge.

2. What tricks, tools, methods do you quickly employ to manage any one of these 19 emotions on the job?

The other emotions listed aren't really that big of a challenge to me. I'm pretty much in touch with my feelings and who I am, and generally like myself, so I've learned to deal with them through self-examination and facing the music.

Since Anger, and the others that go with that emotion, are the biggest challenge, I'll give you an idea of how I deal with that:

In the acute stage, I usually say nothing. As my Dad use to say, "You let your shotgun mouth overload your bee bee gun brain!' So I keep quiet and deep breathe. Maybe say a mantra. I work with some great people to whom I can vent and get bottom line feedback.

If the anger persists and becomes chronic, like resentment, I work out, lift weights and bicycle, and think about the reason why I'm angry. I also do art which helps me gain a perspective on the situation. AN.com helps also!

Here's and example of a post I made one time after I got angry with some co-workers, felt frustration and some resentment.

Last week, my MN shift work wife Eleanor and I were providing care to the patients on geriatric psych at shift change. We received no assistance from the day shift nurses who came on the unit and merely sat in the nurses station, for nearly a half an hour, waiting for report.
I thought of the old song, "Three Coins in a Fountain".

Thanks for your time and interest in helping us try to find ways to better the Nursing Profession!

You're welcome, Tools!

Tools · Jul 21, 2018

bump :-)