Is Anyone A Highly Sensitive Nurse?

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If so how was your experience?

Specializes in ICU, Postpartum, Onc, PACU.

I'm highly sensitive to BS.:D

xo

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I coped for numerous years by working night shift. Nights have less management figureheads, physicians, family members, visitors and other annoying people. Less people results in lower noise levels and reduced stimulation.

I now work from home and only see my 'coworkers' once or twice a month during staff meetings, which suits me well. The less contact with those people, the merrier. Also, due to being away from the bedside, I no longer deal with certain aggravating smells such as yeasty abdominal fold stench.

Today I dealt with sensory overload at two public places: the public library (too many crying children) and a clothing store (loud, annoying oldie songs blaring through the overhead speaker system). I struggled to concentrate.

I guess that being "highly sensitive" must be draining.

The general nursing environment is probably not the most accommodating place for highly sensitive individuals with the constant noise, multitasking, stress....

Good you found work that is a better fit!!

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Great Thread!!! We (non-academic educators) usually find it very frustrating when we are faced with fragile nurses who seem to decompensate when confronted with even the teensiest bit of adversity...... AKA - she's crying in the supply room again. This research seems to provide a model/frame of reference for understanding & helping them deal with the realities of the workplace. Maybe even helping them find a work setting that is best suited to their temperaments.

Thanks for all the information and insight.

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Specializes in ER.
Great Thread!!! We (non-academic educators) usually find it very frustrating when we are faced with fragile nurses who seem to decompensate when confronted with even the teensiest bit of adversity...... AKA - she's crying in the supply room again. This research seems to provide a model/frame of reference for understanding & helping them deal with the realities of the workplace. Maybe even helping them find a work setting that is best suited to their temperaments.

Thanks for all the information and insight.

HSP aren't necessarily crybabies or weaklings. I'm a rather stoic person myself. But we are more sensitive to our surroundings.

I really advise everyone to read the book for greater understanding. 15% of the animal kingdom, including humans, are more sensitive. It is a genetic trait that benefits the group. The example the author used was in the herding animals. The more sensitive 15% were the ones to alert the herd to danger.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
HSP aren't necessarily crybabies or weaklings.
I concur. The HSP phenomenon doesn't refer to emotional sensitivity. It addresses sensory overload in the context of sights, strong smells, noises, perception and spatial patterns in the environment.

I've never become tearful at a nursing workplace and would describe myself as so emotionally detached that it may disturb some people. I'm definitely not the type who would have a workplace meltdown.

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Specializes in ED, ICU, PSYCH, PP, CEN.

My problem has always been that I feel the patients pain/discomfort. It has taken me years of telling myself, "its their pain, not mine."

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Well, that explains a lot. I had to get out of ICU because I couldn't handle the noise and the sudden intense situations.

Some idiot went out the fire escape door and I had to leave the unit until security came and shut off the alarm.

I cry a lot when I hear moving music or see something sad on TV. I have to leave the room if a character in a show is embarrassing themselves because I can't handle it.

If there is too much going on around me, I freeze up and have to go somewhere else and calm down so I can think. I have developed a kind of tunnel vision, but it's not possible for me to do all the time.

I "hibernate" a lot. The people I work with are always wondering why I won't pick up shifts. It takes me the rest of the week to recover from my scheduled three.

None of my clothes have tags. I always wear socks and shoes because I don't like the feel of dirt under my feet and I can't stand the slimy feel of sweaty shoes. I can't stand it when I have a stray hair or something tickling my skin and I look really stupid picking at myself until I figure out the problem.

I have a hard time at the beach because of sand, so I stay in the water with my feet up. I'm lucky I haven't been eaten by a shark.

I hate it when my husband watches TV because he's HOH and it's sooo loud.

I wear earplugs and an eye mask to sleep in during the day because I can't sleep with the light and every noise wakes me up. I like silence.

I was shy as a child. My entire family said something about me becoming a nurse, wondering if I could handle it. One of my aunts said to me that I would be great as long as I was able to "keep it together."

I do notice trends and people going down the drain earlier than most. Unfortunately, the docs rarely believe me because I catch the subtle signs before it becomes obvious. I always call with, "Hey, so and so is starting to look bad. Here's the sitch - " and they always answer with "OK, keep monitoring them." Then, next shift, I find out the patient was kicked up to another level of care. I've never had one of my patients code, knock on wood, because I catch them before the Rapid Response stage.

I can usually figure out what's wrong with a psych or nonverbal patient and help them get more comfortable. The people on my unit are always futzing with the thermostat and the lights and I have to go behind them and fix things.

It's amazing to me that HSP is a thing. I just thought it was me.

Do any of you other sensitives have some of the same problems?

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

I am apparently a Highly Insensitive Person — ummmm, HIP. Lol. I thrive on chaos and lots of simultaneous input. I do startle easily and some loud noises bother me, but that is deployment related and has abated a little over the last two years. I do have a rich inner life, though. And I am very moved by music.

This is very interesting, I have never heard of HSP.

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Well, that explains a lot. I had to get out of ICU because I couldn't handle the noise and the sudden intense situations.

Some idiot went out the fire escape door and I had to leave the unit until security came and shut off the alarm.

I cry a lot when I hear moving music or see something sad on TV. I have to leave the room if a character in a show is embarrassing themselves because I can't handle it.

If there is too much going on around me, I freeze up and have to go somewhere else and calm down so I can think. I have developed a kind of tunnel vision, but it's not possible for me to do all the time.

I "hibernate" a lot. The people I work with are always wondering why I won't pick up shifts. It takes me the rest of the week to recover from my scheduled three.

None of my clothes have tags. I always wear socks and shoes because I don't like the feel of dirt under my feet and I can't stand the slimy feel of sweaty shoes. I can't stand it when I have a stray hair or something tickling my skin and I look really stupid picking at myself until I figure out the problem.

I have a hard time at the beach because of sand, so I stay in the water with my feet up. I'm lucky I haven't been eaten by a shark.

I hate it when my husband watches TV because he's HOH and it's sooo loud.

I wear earplugs and an eye mask to sleep in during the day because I can't sleep with the light and every noise wakes me up. I like silence.

I was shy as a child. My entire family said something about me becoming a nurse, wondering if I could handle it. One of my aunts said to me that I would be great as long as I was able to "keep it together."

I do notice trends and people going down the drain earlier than most. Unfortunately, the docs rarely believe me because I catch the subtle signs before it becomes obvious. I always call with, "Hey, so and so is starting to look bad. Here's the sitch - " and they always answer with "OK, keep monitoring them." Then, next shift, I find out the patient was kicked up to another level of care. I've never had one of my patients code, knock on wood, because I catch them before the Rapid Response stage.

I can usually figure out what's wrong with a psych or nonverbal patient and help them get more comfortable. The people on my unit are always futzing with the thermostat and the lights and I have to go behind them and fix things.

It's amazing to me that HSP is a thing. I just thought it was me.

Do any of you other sensitives have some of the same problems?

So much of this! Not identical, but similar. I also hibernate to recover from shifts. I notice repetitive sounds and they drive me up the wall - anything repetitive feels like an alarm clock to me, even cheap ambient noise machines. People act like I'm nuts because the sound of clanking of dishes is physically painful. If I'm in a car and I need to focus on directions or place an order at a drive-through or talk to a friend, the radio and fan need to be off. I used to have trouble in some classes if handouts were printed on whatever type of printer used to be around that left a palpable texture to the ink. I will never forget that my entire BIO 101 lab handbook was printed with that stuff because I would get distracted by the texture every single class.

But the hardest situations by far are the ones where everyone is angry or upset. I'm a fricken emotional sponge, and it's hard work building healthy walls so that I don't feel other people's distress so strongly, both at work and in my personal life.

*edited to add* Fluorescent lights that flicker. A year or two ago I was in a (college) student theater production, and rehearsals were in a modular classroom and there was one light that flickered week after week. It made me feel kind of ill, and I would try to at least sit in the other half of the room when I wasn't on "stage." It makes me feel so bad for autistic kids who have that experience with "normal" fluorescents.

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I just wanna say that as an autism mom, and the mom of 2 kids with flaming sensory processing issues, that some here may benefit from exploring adult sensory processing disorder. This book is particularly helpful: Too Loud, Too Bright, Too Fast, Too Tight: What to Do If You Are Sensory Defensive in an Overstimulating World: Sharon Heller: 9780060932923: Amazon.com: Books

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Thank you for the link, quazar. While I was perusing it I also saw a book about misophonia, which I have as well. I've ordered both. :yes:

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

Well, I identified with nearly every point on that questionnare/quiz. I've always known I struggled with sensory processing. Growing up with 9 younger siblings, I learned early on to manage it, though most days I had to come home from school and just lay down for a while.

It's the same now that I'm a nurse. I manage just fine at work, handling the chaos with grace (though on the inside I'm begging it to please, stop). I do relate very well to my anxious/overwhelmed patients. However, after work I need a solid day or two to recover - especially if I've been working 3 in a row.

I am so bothered by noise, beyond the normal level. Thinking about it now makes my heart rate quicken.

I struggle with textures in food. Nothing too squishy, and not too many flavors mixed together.

I hate the texture of the fabric on car roofs. It makes my fingertips itch to think about.

I dislike words that start with certain letters, or how words look. States like Idaho, Illinois, Ohio... The names bother me. I have no idea why.

I am extremely in tune to colors.

I don't often drink caffeine because I feel like I will explode.

I hate being watched. While eating, doing procedures, doing my makeup...

I could go on forever. I think you get the point.

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