How can I manage my anxiety on the floor?

[cherubhipster]

Hello friends,

Once again in my time of need I turn to the wonderful nurses of this website. I am glad I have you out there, thank you for helping me through my times of need!

I am in my final semester of nursing school, and now I am learning to juggle care for 3 patients at a time on the floor, soon to progress to 4 patients. I am a generally high strung individual. My professors have called me "hyper" on the floor, and once a patient told me to "calm down"! I have pretty bad anxiety on a regular basis, not just in regard to school.

I feel like my anxiety is getting in the way of my work. When the tasks I have start to build, and this patient needs this and that needs that and don't forget to do xyz also, I feel like my head is going explode, and I get frantic. I am very organized, and I already use a good sheet to keep my pt info straight. I write down the things I need to do so I don't forget, I do my best to chart as I go, but I just feel so overwhelmed all the time and I know I need to calm down (deep breathing doesn't really do the trick for me).

Does anyone have any tips I can try so that I don't loose my head or end up with a heart attack at a young age?

Thank you!

[caliotter3]

For your own health now and in the future, I suggest you see your physician for assistance and possible referral to a counselor. If nothing else, you could get some tips on anxiety reduction exercises. When other people notice it and comment on it, then perhaps it is at the level that you should try to get a better handle on it. Good luck.

[Quienes]

Are you eating well? Quit the caffine, get in an hour of cardio daily and practice some breathing excersizes. If all those don't help I'd suggest getting a referal to a good psychiatrist for some mess. It could be chemical.

[Quienes]

Sorry typo I meant to say meds, not mess! There are lots of drugs on the market for generalized anxiety disorders.

[wifeandmomoftwo]

I have the same problem. I'm still a student like you. I handle having multiple tasks to get done at the same time pretty well with the exception of two pts needing assist to the bathroom at the same time. I'm afraid if I don't get there quickly enough the one I take last will try to go without me and fall. My anxiety causes me trouble when an instructor is watching me. I have a lot of difficulty with that for some reason. I have even talked to a therapist about it. She just told me to keep repeating to myself "I just need to do my job. I can do this. It's ok." I actually does seem to help me somewhat.

I'll be watching your replies for more advice. Good luck :)

[cherubhipster]

I hesitate to say this in such a public place, but let's just put it out there that I already do participate in a variety of more medical related interventions for anxiety (as opposed to nursing or theraupeutic interventions )

I was doing some reading, and I think maybe part of my problem is I am getting bogged down in my time management..as in I am easily side tracked by what the patient or primary nurse I am working under deems urgent instead of sticking to my own care plan and taking care of what I know I need to take care of.

I plan and prioritize, but i think i need to replan and prioritize at set intervals throughout my day. and accept that I am not perfect and not every single thing will get done, even though I want it to get done. that seems a hard thing to accept though, since i want to do my job well.

on top of this, I'm just going to pray for help from a higher power!! let's see how tomorrow goes.. :)

[neutrophil]

I am also a relatively new nurse. I thrive on that sort of stress, but not always. I was in the Navy in war time situations. I was a service adviser at automobile dealerships. One of the most stressful jobs. I once had to go to the doctor to get some advice, he prescribed an anti anxiety, but I never took it.

This is what I found after some time of stressful jobs. I hope it helps. It worked for me.

Compartmentalize. Another words, know that you have a million things to do, but do one at a time. Focus on that one thing when you are doing it.

Learn to prioritize. If something is not more important, note it and continue what you are doing.

Learn to know what is important when someone is telling you something. If they told you. It is important to them, but maybe not be one of your priorities. Adds to the problem, I know. But still prioritize. Let them know that you will get to it, and do it, accordingly.

I can go on and on. I would like to say that, lately the term, "multitask." Is in use. Studies have shown, and I wish I could give you the info on that. But they show that human beings, although they think are good at multitasking, really cannot, not efficiently.

Nurses have to multitask, it is not an option. The more you work at it and get used to it. It will get easier. Anyway, those are things that I found. I hope it helps.

[cb_rn]

Please don't ignore the advice you are getting to seek medical attention. If your anxiety is palpable, you can easily spread that to a patient or family and nothing spirals out of control like an anxious family member. If you are all three (or more) anxious you will feed off of each other inadvertently. It is hard for a patient to feel confident in your ability if you seem like you are not in control of your emotions. Work on developing a "game face" even if you are a roiling mess on the inside and practice stopping and making yourself tone it down when you feel the anxiety start to creep up on you.

I would highly suggest until this is under control that you do not go to a floor such as tele or ICU or labor and delivery that involves a great deal of emotion and stress. You also have to understand that if you are a ball of nervous energy, you risk coming across as "spazzy" to your coworkers and that is the last thing you want as a new nurse starting out. You have to remember that there are other people on the floor with you that can give assistance if you ask and that you alone are not responsible for everything that happens. Don't give yourself that kind of power!

I give you a big thumbs up for recognizing your anxiety and asking for help but please take us seriously when we say to seek further help. There is nothing wrong with having anxiety, nothing to feel ashamed about, but it is defnitely something you need to have professionally addressed for your own well being and the sake of your patients and your nursing career. There is no magic reply that anyone on this forum can give you to alleviate the level of anxiety that you are describing (head exploding would be an abnormal clinical finding :) )

In the meantime, until you can see someone that maybe can get you some meds or some counseling, try and remember that the world will not end if you get behind and have to stay over after your shift to catch up on charting or if Mr. Manwart in bed 3 gets his aspirin 30 minutes late as long as Mrs. Butterworth got her insulin and antibiotic on time. Don't make it a habit of giving meds late or not getting your charting done but if something big is going on, deal with it. Nursing is like 79.3% prioritization. Best of luck to you and congrats on your upcoming graduation. Before you know it, you'll be an old salty fart like me :)

[NewTXnurse]

I am a fairly new nurse and often felt times of anxiety especially when several different things needed to be done at the same time. I sought out seasoned nurses who I felt comfortable with and explained everything that needed to be done and asked for their help in prioritizing. They would explain the order of things they would do and I was able to see through their experienced eyes.

[onlinesdegree]

I think what you have to do is to take sometime to relax and just smile while enjoying the jobs that you are doing. This will pay off in a while, believe me. A simple smile will set all things straight:)

[CaLLaCoDe, BSN, RN]

I have found if I don't show big time fear emotion, like panic, when the situation is stressful, say when a patient is having trouble breathing for instance. Just do the work of getting my patient some help without letting my stress show. When patient's see you stressed or beaten up or tired or angry, they see it as an out to act the same way when it comes to their dealing with their issues or worse they judge you as being a weak nurse.

Keep the ball in your court. At all cost remain calm, or act as if you are calm (EVEN IF YOU FEEL INSIDE PANICKED)...It can work miracles for you. And when your patient says your the best nurse they've ever had, just smile and say thank you, knowing that you sweated bullets in the back of your mind and chuckle to yourself. My days became less crazy by practicing the fine art of acting calm in the turmoil, at times madness of nursing.

JUST MY

She just told me to keep repeating to myself "I just need to do my job. I can do this. It's ok." I actually does seem to help me somewhat.

Really good advice.

[healthstar, BSN, RN]

I have the same problem as you. I have bad anxiety before taking a test, I shake, my hands lock ( form a fist) and I hyperventilate. People say that people who do not study for the tests get test anxiety but that is not true at least with me. Everytime I ask someone to help me the first thing they say is take anxiety meds. That is just crazy I do not want to depend on meds for the rest of my life. I know there are other ways to reduce anxiety such as deep breathing exercise but it doesn't work for me. However, when I am in the hospital taking care of patients I feel very comfortable and I never feel nervous, unless they tell me to do something that I am not good at.

I am sorry I can't help you with your anxiety problem because I can't even help myself, just know that you are not the only one. I am sure there is a way to overcome this but we both have to look for it :)