How do you stay cheerful and bubbly during work?

tattooednursie, LVN · Nov 10, 2002

Originally posted by MishlB
Remember... people are in the hospital because htey are sick...don't take it personally! Don't you feel crabby sometimes too?
Is your hair REALLY rainbow?

My hair is indeed rainbow, but its fadeing I had red, blue, and purple, and now I'm thinking of blue, green and purple. It was also red white(blonde) and blue. I like to be colorful.

ohbet · Nov 10, 2002

Ok,Annabell let the cat out of the bag,the secret to being cheerful and bubbly is taking a cig. break.

Well I dont smoke now,so thats been my problem,but Im starting as soon as I can get a hold of a pack. How much are they now?

Vailgang · Nov 10, 2002

Mandi,

I am so glad that you made this post. It is really interesting. I work in a small office and I get frustrated and it is difficult to be cheerful and bubbly. When I am not they immediately ask me what is wrong. I am not usually hateful but sometimes I just don't want to be in a good mood and at work it is difficult because you are paid to be that way. Since I have the same problem I will not give any advice just continue to read the posts. Thanks again for posting.

susanmary · Nov 10, 2002

Don't worry about being cheerful/bubbly. Listen to your patient, keep a positive attitude, be supportive -- and be your patient's advocate. A great sense of humor will also help. If I didn't maintain humor with patients (when appropriate) and my fellow co-workers, I'd never be able to get through the day. Most of all, be yourself.

Gardengal · Nov 10, 2002

I stay cheerful by wearing slip on shoes, without ties.....Think about it...when you wear tie shoes you know that you have to bend down and re-tie them several times during the day. I get a laugh every time I look down and see that I'm wearing slip on shoes-I think...well, that's one less task for me...I don't have to bend down and retie my shoes.:chuckle

tattooednursie, LVN · Nov 10, 2002

I'd take cig breaks . . . but I don't smoke. I very seldom get breaks, thats probably my problem. I don't wanna start smokin' because since I was 5 I have been trying to get my parents to quit , so I don't want to be a hypocrit. Other wise I would porobably be miss 5 packs a day. Instead I am a compulsive eater lol.

Jenny P · Nov 10, 2002

Each day when I go to work, I remember being in a hospital myself and being scared and afraid. I imagine that each one of my patients may feel like I did at that time. I work CV-ICU and see lots of stressed families and patients. My goal is to make my patients and families relaxed and able to trust me. I am focused on the moment and that patient or person I am talking to. Direct eye contact and sincerity do help. So do slow deep breaths which I imagine that I'm ridding myself of stress when I exhale. Co-workers tease me that I'm sighing all of the time; but they also tell me that I seldom am flustered or upset.

I often use some gentle humor, but am careful it is not anything hurtful for or to the patient. Sometimes when I have a frightened patient on a ventilator, I'll say something like "oh goody, I get to do all the talking tonight!" And I DO TALK to them, all of the time, explaining what I'm doing, etc.

I have found that sometimes the grumpy, demanding patients are the ones who may need more attention.

I'm assuming that you work in a LTC facility from the way you worded your post. Would it help if when you are assigned to that particular hallway you select one person that you will spend an extra 5-10 minutes with, just talking to them? Pick the crankiest one on the hall, then just go and ask them all night if there is anything else you can do for them. Pick a different patient each time you work that hall, it may make a difference.

I started out back in high school working in a nursing home and the grumpiest guy was an old cowboy who I'd tried this on. He realized I was trying to make him more comfortable; we became friends over the year and I still have the last bread board he ever made hanging on my kitchen wall almost 40 years later. The crabbiest woman had been a nurse during WWI and she'd had a stroke that left her totally paralyized on the right side. She was in her upper 80's and would yell at everybody that we had to "maintain proper body positioning" and to pull her hip out further to reposition her. After putting up with her nagging at me one day, I did burst into tears and tell her that I'd tried my best but I couldn't get her hip out any further than that- she was already pulled as far to the right as her hip could possibly move and she was already curved into an "S" shape. Turns out she had right side "neglect" (I realized this AFTER the neuro component of nursing school) and was unaware of how crooked she was! I held up her little hand mirror for her to see her postion, and -- we got along fine after that. No one had ever bothered to show or tell her she was crooked before that!

tattooednursie, LVN · Nov 10, 2002

lol some of the best residents are the ones that used to be nurses, because they know how hard it is . . . but some of them can be so mean, because they know how to get what they want.

Jenny P,

I DEFINANTLY know how you feel.

One of the times a resident made me cry was on my first day. She had been purposly leting go of the bar while transfering in the bathroom to all the other new CNA's, but I was unaware of this, so when it happened to me, I felt bad! I got the nurse to help me get her up off of the floor, then I sat down at the nurses station, and started crying, and everyone was all around me, comforting me, and explaining to me that she does that on purpose.

WELL stupid me . . . I went back in the room and told her I was so sorry. She cussed me out and slapped me and told me that I was the worst CNA ever, and that if she had me as an aide again that she would rather die, and she said she never wanted to see my ulgy face again. I burst into tears all over again.

Youda · Nov 10, 2002

A friend of mine always smiled and was happy at work no matter what she felt inside. The admin took her aside and did a random drug screen on her (of course, it was negative). The point is (besides stupid admins) is that no one is happy all the time.

If I'm feeling like crap, down, upset, whatever . . . I just try to focus on WHO I'm talking to. I try to see them as a person, and for that few minutes that I'm with them, I try to give them what THEY need, and not worry about what I need or feel. I can deal with my own self later. Often what I do or say for my patients makes a difference in their entire day. So, just see that patient as a human being. Beyond that, allow yourself to be human and don't try to do the impossible, or else someone will wonder what you've been smoking.

shay · Nov 10, 2002

:rotfl: :rotfl: HAH!! I think about my shift ending.

People tell me I'm so bubbly all the time. I dunno. It just seems to me, that if you've gotta be at work for 12 hours, why be crabby the whole time....makes the shift so much longer. Of course, I was also a theatre major for 2 years, and I can fake it REALLY well. :devil: If only people knew what REALLY went on inside my head......MUHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stargazer · Nov 10, 2002

I dunno. The title of this thread made me picture some weird, robotically cheerful Stepford Nurse, regurgitating those awful customer service "scripts" that hospital admin keeps coming up with for the nursing staff. Ew.

I would agree with those who say that pleasant and professional is a much more realistic goal to strive for. Anything over and above that is gravy.

Reading this thread, though, I had to laugh, because it reminds me of one day when I had a patient who was requiring enormous quantities of IV push narcotics (this predated implementation of the Pyxis system), therefore most of the narc sign-out sheet for that shift consisted of my signature. I was running back and forth between my 2 patients, cracking jokes, being my usual self, and joked that someone was going to look at the narc sheet & think all the drugs were for ME. One of my male colleagues deadpanned, "We might, except that clearly you're NOT sedated." :chuckle

mamabear · Nov 12, 2002

Since when do we have to be cheerful and bubbly on top of everything else? :confused:

Personally, I'd rather receive care from a competent adult professional than some twittering airhead.:chuckle