Nursing = stressful career!!

CaLLaCoDe, BSN, RN · Feb 23, 2007

Sometimes I think the additional stress of work and how well we handle it, helps us to be better at regular every day stress. Which is more stressful, having your patient's life slip from you, or have a coffee mug slip and fall to the grown making a mini Katrina on your carpet?

I do believe that the workers that one is involved with at work can increase your stress level, if you let it! For example, my patient earlier this morning coded and I felt awful afterwords, rehearsing in my mind the events and regretting possible actions I could have taken proactively; so, I was not ready when the dialysis nurse told me I should help move my other patient when I was finishing up my morning med pass...BIG mistake was my telling her no way, nurse assistant can do you the favor! 'Cause she let me have it!!! Loudly told the day shift leader and a nursing instructor of my terrible "team player" attitude! Go figure when just earlier I had helped her move her dialysis cart to the room "X," while explaining to her the stress of dealing with the recent code and when things didn't work with hooking up the hoses to the faucet in the room I had called maintenance to help solve the "problem." Besides, telling others she blabbed to the family of Pt X how awful a nurse I was! I held my peace, because I wanted to make it home in one piece, untangled, and resolute not to do tit for tat!

PS. I certainly agree, no where is nursing stressless, maybe at times less stress; but I'm sure even on a typical day at any hospital anywhere their will be a stressful incident to contend with and someone to keep cool and someone to lose it! LOL