Nurse burnout is treatable through counseling, yet despite experiencing toxicity, we tend to feel as though we are able to "fix" ourselves. Stop this madness! Find joy, balance and boundaries by cycling back to determine what led you to want to heal others.
Alrighty then nurse person, so you cry on your way to work, fantasize about moving to a mountain top with a shaved head while cradling a book titled "How to Obtain Enlightenment in Three Days", and are enjoying your 5th diagnosed bladder infection in the last 6 months. Despite being an avid believer in probiotics you realize if you eat one more lousy spoonful of yogurt you will quite simply toss cookies, so just the idea of slathering this refrigerated dairy food complete with fruit chunks onto your urethra is actually enjoyable at this point. Enter reality. As you take your morning report and begin your rounds, one of your patients replies to your luke warm "good morning" by threatening to choke you if you don't medicate them for their pain. 7:34 AM, but look at the bright side. You only have 11 and half hours to go.
You aren't sure how to accurately describe the zone you just entered, but for some reason, thanks to some form of grace, you are in your car, ready to escape the madness. The minutes turned into hours, the hours melted into some sort of inexplicable space in time. The blisters on your heels are oozing and raw. As always, there is a nagging sense that you forgot to report something, or that something will go wrong as a result of something that you did or didn't do. You fleetingly consider returning to the unit to make sure that you dotted "T's and crossed your "I's. (Yes, I realize that this was reversed, but you are delirious). There is a quickening in your chest as you struggle with the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other. You limp aimlessly toward your vehicle. You'd haul *** if you could.
You manage to start the ignition of your car and peel off your shoes and socks that tell the story of the angst and pain that you have witnessed and endured. Hell, if you have breasts your bra may have already been winged into your back seat. As you operate your motor vehicle, the trees that pass you by turn into looming shadows which tell stories of the promise of darkness. For some creepy reason, you find comfort in that. A song comes on the radio that eventually becomes a part of a dream which you will never remember. In your driveway you realize that you do not recall the drive home.
A probably well meaning yet horribly ignorant family member tells you how lousy you look and possibly asks you what's for dinner. Your forehead becomes intimately close with your kitchen counter, and you may even at this point wonder how many bashings it would take in order for you to lose consciousness and at the same time, you cannot possibly endure any more pain. As you weep, the good intentioned sap has an epiphany. The words uttered out of their mouth actually sound something like this:
"Just relax"!
Your exhausted mind bends and twists in an attempt to comprehend. Did this person just tell me to...relax?
Oh, ok.
How on earth can a professional healthcare provider such as a nurse just relax? What that statement actually indicated was that the well meaning idiot cannot deal with how your stress affects them, or is simply at a loss to fully comprehend exactly what it is that a nurse endures during a work shift. Join the club you think, because neither can you. I mean, it's not that you haven't dabbled in aromatherapy, enjoyed some retail therapy or possibly enjoyed a cocktail or ten with your comrades. Did those actions create a period of time when you felt relaxed? Possibly. Yet they were all temporary escapes.
These things are simply fugacious bleeps in time. Look at the trends. They are all extrinsically obtained environmental actions. You may as well have put a Dora the Explorer bandage on a cavernous, extravagating abdominal wound. A 0.009 cc of the blood will be absorbed into Dora, yet the goal is to stop the bleeding. Even more imperative is to determine the cause of the bleeding in the first place.
Nurse focused, integrated transpersonal counseling creates an environment where you will cycle back intrinsically to determine root causes for your authentically personal energetic attraction to healing others. By coming to terms with, and embracing these issues, you will cycle forward with fresh perspectives, learn healthy boundaries and enjoy your profession again. You will heal yourself and others from a place of compassion and despite non-compassionate healthcare work environments, learn how to achieve an incredible work-personal life balance and get that bounce back in your step.
It is imperative that we raise awareness and demolish the stigma that the individual nurse as well as the collective consciousness of the nursing profession largely subscribes to, which is that nurses do not need counseling. This is highly detrimental, however completely reasonable in the manner in which this notion is derived, as the very definition of nursing includes being an expert in the diagnosis of the human response to various conditions. After all, we are fixers of humans. We ourselves are human. Therefore we can fix ourselves.
Guess what my friends? This simply cannot be accomplished independently. If you realize that you are apathetic or experiencing anxiety and dread when you even think about going to work, you need to be carefully and professionally guided back to your authentic joy.
Care to be contagious? What you learn about yourself will be magnetic, and those fortunate enough to be in your company will respond in kind.
Nurse your spirit, because peaceful and cohesive healers create a peaceful and cohesive planet.
Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.
Please, let's keep the focus on the topic of the Article? Don't make it personal. That only serves to be divisive.
As for posts being removed by members; members cannot remove their own posts. Some interactions between members were either removed or edited by staff members as some replies were either off-topic, inflammatory, or both.
So, let's keep to the topic w/o personalizing it amongst the membership.
1st off...WOW! Secondly, where were you when I needed you? I am a guy and trust me when I say this...this situation isn't limited to just the ladies or PMS or Pregnancy. I am still an EMT but not working on an ambulance. Would really love to get back on a "truck" as we call our ambulances in EMS. Took a 6 credit pre nursing class and am really scared to continue. Not that I can't stand the sight of blood or the smell of vomit or poo. Did clinicals and got a CNA certification. Worked the ambulance for over 5 years. am accepted into a nursing program. Am told Im good at what I do. Like talking with and providing companionship to the elderly. Love Psych work. Am intrigued by the process of surgery, pre op, PACU. Sometimes it is the people you work with !
Tell me: how heartless can you really be when after (not durring) a pedi abuse case you tell me to get over it. I had 2 of them. Was it any surprise that after the 4th ambulance accident (because my partner did something stupid) that I lost my temper ? Alright, not sure where this went? Thanks for letting me post. Maybe someday I'll get over it. If I do then I'll tell ya how to deal with it.
Specializes in home care, med/surg ICU, ER, Hospice.
Thanks Doc Lori RN. This article really hit home for me.
I have had my nursing license since 1996, but had minimal nursing experience (homecare for one patient part time for 4 years) when I accepted a job in the ER of a small hospital last December. Prior to that I had a full time job as a production planner for a large steel company for almost 30 years. I went back to school for nursing while working full time at the plant. My goal was to work part-time in homecare while still working at the plant and then retiring in 2009 from the plant with full benefits from the steel company. I was then going to work per diem as a nurse either in a hospital or home care. That didn't happen. The steel plant went bankrupt in 2003 and was then purchased by another steel company. It was subsequently purchased by another large steel company and then later merged with another large steel company to become the largest steel company in the world.
My plant was then shutdown in 2009. No retirement benefits. I could have taken a position at another plant, but I didn't want to relocate. I took an RN refresher course in 2008, because I knew of the impending shutdown.
Since I had no hospital experience, the hospital that hired me started me off training on the med/surg floor, ambulatory surgery, and ICU prior to training in the ER. Once in the ER, I quickly realized that I was not ready for ER nursing. The stress level was awful and I dreaded going to work every day. I talked to my nurse manager, and she was very understanding. In fact, she told me before I started training in the ER to let her know if the ER wasn't right for me.
The hospital gave me a position in ICU. I had two weeks training there, and was then on my own. Of couse I was still very nervous. Our ICU is small, and when there are less then 3 patients in the unit, one of the nurses gets floated to another dept. I have been on my own in the ICU since June of this year. I have not had a lot of experience there, because I am floated a lot. In fact, I didn't work in ICU for 4 weeks at one point. Hence, when I do work there, I get nervous because I haven't been there for so long.
There is one nurse in the unit who keeps telling me to "relax, and don't be so nervous". She can get mean too. She is a good nurse and I have learned a lot from her, but because of an incident I had with her, I am afraid to ask for her help. Working nights we have to put in all of the med orders, and since I don't do it that often, I need some help entering them. I am very anxious when I work with her. I talked to my nurse manager about it yesterday, and she told me this nurse is the same way with everybody. I told her it's not right that I, as a new nurse who has been out of school for so many years, am afraid to ask a question of her because I don't know how she'll react. But I know that I have to deal with it. I am trying very hard. I just don't want to make a mistake.
The other night I was so stressed out that I almost hyperventilated. I was working with the nurse I referred to above. At first she told me she couldn't help me, that I have to do it myself. I'm sorry, but we have to work as a team. Eventually, she offered to help me. I tried to enter the orders myself, but there were things I was unsure of and didn't want to make a mistake entering med orders.
I am transferring to days for a month starting next week and hope that I can get more help from the nurses on the day shift. But, I think I will call our EAP for some guidance. I talk to one of the nurses I graduated from nursing school with about my anxiety, and she offers me advice, but counseling may be just what I need.
Specializes in Dialysis,M/S,Home Care,LTC, Admin,Rehab.
Wow perbd, what a story! Good for you for putting your foot down. We cannot choose who we work with, nor do we have to invite other's unaddressed issues into our space. I am so happy that my article resonated with you. Rock on! :) Best wishes!
Specializes in med/surg, PACU, Hospice, Pulmonary, ED a.
Thank you for the laughter and the direction here. Can you imagine being a patient in the amosphere we can hardly navigate? Are there really nurses who DON'T find the floor toxic? It is time to remove the self-doubt I allowed to slip into my people -loving heart and sek healing. Thank you Doc RN
Specializes in Dialysis,M/S,Home Care,LTC, Admin,Rehab.
Thank you, Violets Ripple :) I am happy that this article resonated with so many ! What you said is so true, and you said it with such honesty and clarity. Any patient would be fortunate to have a thinking, feeling and self-full nurse such as yourself.
Specializes in med/surg, PACU, Hospice, Pulmonary, ED a.
Thank you, Violets Ripple :) I am happy that this article resonated with so many ! What you said is so true, and you said it with such honesty and clarity. Any patient would be fortunate to have a thinking, feeling and self-full nurse such as yourself.
Best wishes!
Before I go 'Sally Field' Doc,R.N., let me say thank you for the validation. I've been around helathcare for a very long time now and it is absolutely in change mode today. What happens when change occurs? We get a little testy, uncertainty brings fear of the unknown and the 'right-fighters' are out in droves looking for errors. Have you ever seen a cattle stampede? Something spooks the herd and a thousand tons of frightened beasts begin to charge without direction.
That is how I see the medical world from admin on down. What to do? Get the Hell out of their way. They are crazy!
Specializes in Dialysis,M/S,Home Care,LTC, Admin,Rehab.
Well...there is the distinction between boundaries and walls, the latter being the most painful...when there are boundaries, not concrete, there is less damage at impact...with boundaries, there is still air to move, and by doing so, you are showing energetic compassion for yourself and others. I'd say don't slow down, I would however say to keep moving, stay in your focus and people whom surround you will become infected by your grace and attitude :)
Specializes in med/surg, PACU, Hospice, Pulmonary, ED a.
Ah, you are a breath of fresh air Doc Lori, I actually did just that and stepped out of the mess to regroup. Today, less than a month later, I am gathering my authentic self, smiling a REAL smile. Your words are inspirational you know that right? Thank you. I really appreciate your reminders about boundaries. Collisions with other energies are inevitable, self-doubt is the real opponent.
sirI, MSN, APRN, NP
17 Articles; 45,870 Posts
Please, let's keep the focus on the topic of the Article? Don't make it personal. That only serves to be divisive.
As for posts being removed by members; members cannot remove their own posts. Some interactions between members were either removed or edited by staff members as some replies were either off-topic, inflammatory, or both.
So, let's keep to the topic w/o personalizing it amongst the membership.
Thanks.