Stress and Nursing

WalkingMyTalk · May 9, 2012

Hi everyone!
I haven't been on here in a while. Hope life is treating all of you well or at least treating you! Lol!
I have someone I would like you all to meet....This is Rudy Athay....Rudy is doing a research paper on the effects of stress on nurses. Sooooooo I brought him here to talk to some of you. All please chime in and share some of your personal examples of stressful situations and what you did to cope with it ......Thanks so much in advance for your help! Here's Rudy>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Did you get any responses? Most nurses would probably have an awful lot to share and may not know where to start. Everyday on the job for nurses is stressful no matter what the arena. I work in LTC, and the stress can be overwhelming with about 30 residents to care for, meds to pass and treatments to perform in an 8-hour shift. Constant interruptions by staff, residents and families during med passes greatly affects time management. Expectations by management can be frustrating. If a nurse works 2nd shift, as I do, we have to answer the phone after 5:00 p.m. and may have to walk far to do this. There are physician orders to process, which is done during our approximate half hour dinner break. We are fortunate if we get a dinner break and have to keep postponing toilet breaks because every second away from med pass and treatments puts us further behind. We have to address a myriad of issues that may arise during our shift which may include injury incidents of residents and situations involving residents with dementia where we may have to assist with deescalating. I could continue but now have to get ready for another day of stress. This stress experienced in LTC is no different than in acute care nursing and most likely other arenas of nursing care. Every nurse has a myriad of stories and experiences to share. I wish Rudy luck with his research paper.