100 miles an hour to nowhere

[MBar1, RN]

An unrelinquishing hammer foot on the pedal of your day will certainly make things go by quicker- but at what cost? The moments of your day are cumulative, and as they pass you by, so do the opportunities to make them as meaningful as possible. As we have seen throughout human history, the means never justifies the end- so why is it that we sometimes approach our care this way? Well, many factors impact the schedules of our day, both in task timing and completion. These factors include: staffing shortages, high patient census, high acuity patients, and the list goes on. The difference between a day of chaos and a day devoid of perturbations is certainly significant- cumulatively, the impetus of a meaningful practice is much more likely in the latter scenario than the former. A truism or closely held belief in nursing is that the quality of our practice is sometimes perhaps measured by the amount of devoted time in being present with our patient(s) (Enns & Sawatzky, 2016; Rivaz et al. 2017). This, unfortunately, creates confusion surrounding what it means to care- which is already quite elusive and difficult to conceptualize within the scientific literature (Cook & Peden, 2017; Davidson, Ray, & Turkel, 2011). 

 

Time can not and should not be the final straw to break the camel’s back. Far too many instances within a nurse's practice are predicated upon time- generating plenty of added stress and angst to both well adjusted veterans and novice nurses (Enns & Sawatzky, 2016; Rivaz et al. 2017). So why should we give authority to the pressures that limit it? This notion appears to be a non-zero sum game- lose if you try, and lose if you don’t. A missed bed bath as a byproduct of a day filled with family updates, short or limited staff, critically ill patients, patient bed moves, transfers, tests, discharges, admissions, and the remaining tasks that are typical of a nurses day does not define the character of a nurse. The earth will remain on its axis and will continue to spin at one thousand miles per hour. Your colleagues will look at you the same, and you can go home knowing that your efforts are long standing. 

 

If the basis of interventions to treat burnout (both mental and physical) and the psychological sequelae such as depersonalization is mind based or treated from the purview of the psyche, then it is clear that how we feel and how we are made to feel from the conditions of our day can compound overtime- the result either being good or bad. The message here is to take each moment, each shift, each patient, one step at a time. Appreciate the moments of pristine clarity, but equally as important, respect the moments where it feels like everything is falling apart. Ask for help. Reflect on your day- ponder what went right and what went wrong, a seemingly simple task that takes moments of brain power with effects that can potentiate a distressed mind. Hug your significant other. Pet your dog. Take your foot off the pedal, cruise at 30mph-this is a school zone for Pete's sake. 

 

References

Cook, L. B., & Peden, A. (2017). Finding a focus for nursing: The caring concept. Advances in Nursing Science, 40(1), 12–23. doi:10.1097/ANS.0000000000000137

Davidson, A. W., Ray, M. A., & Turkel, M. C. (2011). Nursing, Caring, and Complexity Science: For Human-Environment Well-Being. Springer Publishing Company.

Enns, C. L., & Sawatzky, J.-A. V. (2016). Emergency Nurses’ Perspectives: Factors Affecting Caring. Journal of Emergency Nursing, 42(3), 240–245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jen.2015.12.003


Nowrouzi, B., Lightfoot, N., Larivière, M., Carter, L., Rukholm, E., Schinke, R., & Belanger-Gardner, D. (2015). Occupational stress management and burnout interventions in nursing and their implications for healthy work environments: A literature review. Workplace health & safety, 63(7), 308-315.

Rivaz, M., Momennasab, M., Yektatalab, S., & Ebadi, A. (2017). Adequate Resources as Essential Component in the Nursing Practice Environment: A Qualitative Study. Journal of clinical and diagnostic research : JCDR, 11(6), IC01–IC04. https://doi.org/10.7860/JCDR/2017/25349.9986

[hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I]

It's interesting but not really relevant to a Nurses in Recovery forum. Perhaps if you related it to how stress can lead certain nurses to fall into the quagmire of addiction it would make more sense here. 

Hppy

[londonflo]

On 1/27/2022 at 10:00 AM, MBar1 said:

A missed bed bath as a byproduct of a day filled with family updates, short or limited staff, critically ill patients, patient bed moves, transfers, tests, discharges, admissions, and the remaining tasks that are typical of a nurses day does not define the character of a nurse.

None of these activities have  actually ever defined the character of the nurse  unless you have read about these characteristics in Florence Nightingale's books. Here is a short blog:

https://www.keithrn.com/2015/11/character-nurse/

Are you talking about the assessment activities essential for an admission or discharge assessment (skin, lungs, vital signs,  teaching etc ????) But hey I did like reading your essay and learned a new word "perturbation" and I scored near perfect on the GRE vocabulary in the very early 1980s. 

[Bluefamily, MSN]

Was that an original published complete work? The piece read like it was part of a larger work or an excerpt taken out of context.

I'm confused about the purpose of the writing. Did I miss the thesis statement?

[hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I]

8 hours ago, Bluefamily said:

Was that an original published complete work? The piece read like it was part of a larger work or an excerpt taken out of context.

I'm confused about the purpose of the writing. Did I miss the thesis statement?

You did not miss anything I think this OP is on a search for well meaning and supportive understanding (both for themselves and others) they have several posts in the spirituality section. 

[Bluefamily, MSN]

Well...A for effort. I hope the fog clears for the OP. Thanks for your response.