MasterStreet
New Members
-
Joined
-
Last visited
-
My fellow nurses, I have a question for you. Do you ever think that many of our jobs require so much, too much of our time that they just kind of take over your life? Many of us work over 60 to 70 hours a week or more. It leaves little time to do anything else except try and get some rest, right? Plus, for those who have families, spouses, and children, it's even less time. We never think that sometimes all this working can take a toll on our mental health. Mental Health in Nursing? How many of us as nurses struggle with mental health issues? How often do we hear our managers speak on mental health issues? None to never, right? It’s like this secret that no one talks about because of the stigma or because they just don’t care: Nurse: “I need a mental health day." Manager: “We are short-staffed and need you here.” Nurse: I’m feeling depressed and not myself." Manager: “Get a prescription for an antidepressant, but come to work.” How many times have we heard conversations like these? It makes you feel weak, as if your issues are minor, and you feel guilty for even bringing them up. So, we keep pushing forward, wanting to give 100% to our job and the patients in our care. Until! Until you reach a point where you just want to let everything go, have nothing left to give, and even contemplate leaving the profession altogether. My Story Specialty: Long-term Care Nursing Position: Director of Nursing Pay: Salary 40 hours a week vs. Actual work hours 70-80 hours a week On call: 24/7 Time period: 1.5 years Vacation time: None My Mental Health Depression Unhappy Racing Thoughts Insomnia Irritability My Physical Health Blood Pressure Up Daily Headache Daily Fatigue Daily Body Aches Long story short, guys, I ended up having a complete mini-mental breakdown. Well, that’s what I called it. I actually had thoughts of going to sleep and not waking up. Not that I consider myself suicidal, I just got to a place where I wanted everything just to stop and go away. I couldn’t get out of bed for three days. I was able to do a lot of thinking about my situation and knew that I needed to make some changes in my life. First, I quit my DON position. I realized that it was a toxic situation that I needed to get out of immediately. I also came to the conclusion to leave Nursing Administration altogether and decided to go back to direct patient care and bedside nursing. Although I felt that I was good in administration, bedside nursing has always been where I feel I make the most difference, which also makes me feel good about who I am and what I do. My second decision was to do some travel nursing for a while to see some new places and meet new people. Sometimes a change of scenery does the mind good. My final change was just to start incorporating some serious self-care back into my life. I had been so focused on doing a good job and taking care of everyone else that I forgot about myself. It had been over two years since I had gotten my hair or my nails done. I rarely left the house for anything other than work these days. We have to do better with taking care of ourselves and finding that balance in our lives. So, I had my first “me day” in a long time. I got up, got dressed, put on make-up, and went out. My first stop was to get a much-needed massage. Feeling much better after my massage, I continued on and got a mani/pedi, eyebrows waxed, and got my eyelashes done. I then did a little shopping, stopped and got my oil changed in my car, and finally took myself out for a late lunch before heading home. Guys, I felt so much better and normal for the first time in a long time. I’m also trying to get back into hobbies that I used to love, like reading a good book or even writing this article. So, do what makes you happy; get that new hairstyle you've been wanting to try, take a spa day, or just spend some time to yourself just relaxing. Find a position that fits into your life and does not take over your life. Learn to say no; I mean, we love overtime, don't we? But, sometimes all money is not good money. Do whatever it is that you need to do to keep that balance in your life so you don’t end up forgetting about yourself. I read this quote somewhere but can’t remember where; it’s my new motto in life: Work to live, don’t live to work.
-
The Holidays are finally upon us and many of our nurses and un-licensed nursing staff will be working for much of the Holiday season; taking them away from their families and friends. I have been in nursing for 24 years working my way from a CNA to RN MSN, and when I look back over my career, I can honestly say that I probably worked 18 Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and over 20 New Years. Between the years of 1997 and 2015, I worked every New Year’s Eve. My memories of those years are not full of disappointment or regret, but of great memories of work-family fun. I remember one year when I was working as a CNA in a nursing home on night shift and we planned a Christmas party with a potluck where everyone brought a dish. We played Secret Santa and everyone got a gift, and we all took pictures in front of the Christmas tree. Of course, this was back when taking pictures at work was not a no-no. The next year at the same job, we did the same thing except we played Dirty Santa instead of Secret Santa, which made the party a little funnier. This reason is why your “work family” is so important during the holidays. What do I mean when I say, “work family”? Your work family is the co-workers that you work beside daily. I mean think about it, we spend more time with our co-workers than we do some of our own family members. We can take advantage of this during the holidays and make working the holidays not such a dreadful thing. Between the years 2014 and 2019, I was working the night shift as a staff nurse on a busy acute care unit. This job was the epitome of what “work family” means. We were a very family-oriented team who made plans together both inside and outside of work, and we celebrated every holiday that we worked together. For Halloween, we would all dress up in costumes and have a Halloween party and a Halloween Costume Contest. Thanksgiving was always a potluck with everyone bringing different dishes, and we would end up with a Thanksgiving feast at work. Christmas was always the best, we would have another potluck, an ugly Christmas sweater contest, the best Christmas scrubs contest, play Secret Santa, and take pictures in front of the Christmas tree. Finally, on New Year’s Eve, yes, we partied on New Year’s Eve as well. Our New Year’s Eve party would consist of everyone bringing finger foods, a Happy New Year hat, sparkling cider with plastic champagne glasses for toasting the new year, and of course taking a Happy New Year picture. Great times and great memories, I still have most of the pictures. So, if you are working this holiday season, get together with your “work family” and plan a shift party. This can help to create a positive, healthy, inclusive work environment that fosters comradery and teamwork, which can also lead to improved patient outcomes because happy staff means happy patients. On another note, many of us, depending on our work setting, can also help to make the holidays happier for our patients, especially for those who work in nursing homes or assisted living facilities. I currently work as a DON in an assisted living facility, and this year we included the residents by having the staff choose a resident to buy a gift for Christmas. Many of my staff chose more than one resident. We bought inexpensive gifts for things that they may have needed, such as socks, toiletries, pajamas, etc. We also made a Christmas stocking for each resident as well. This notion can help to create a caring and compassionate environment for your patients or residents, especially for those residents who do not have any family, or their family lives out of town and are unable to visit. These are just a few ideas that can help make working through the holidays not only better but will leave you with the best memories of working during the holidays. The Holiday Season can be one of the best ways to facilitate a family-oriented environment that can continue throughout the rest of the year. Happy Holidays.
-
-
-
Is excessive absenteeism a problem in your healthcare setting? First of all, let's discuss my definition of excessive absenteeism. Of course, absenteeism is the absence of a staff member from a scheduled workday. Excessive absenteeism refers to habitual absences or call-outs by an individual staff member. For example, is there a nursing staff member who calls off from work three to four times a month? When you come to work and learn that someone called out, do you automatically know who it is? Some characteristics of excessive absenteeism include multiple callouts a month, patterned callouts, and always leaving early or coming in late. Causes of Excessive Absenteeism in NursingIllnesses are one of the most commonly used excuses for call outs by nursing staff. The illness may pertain to the staff member, a family member or child, and may be related to either a chronic or acute condition. A few examples of chronic conditions are migraines, back pain, or abdominal issues. Some examples of acute conditions are the flu, bronchitis, or strep throat. Other call-out excuses may include problems with transportation, child care issues, or a death in the family. Most of these issues are excusable and there may even be an excuse provided by a physician. Excessive patterns of absenteeism may be present when the excuses get odd, made up, or overused. I have heard nurses use the excuse that their goat is sick and their dog was giving birth. Sometimes callouts occur based on staffing. If your facility displays the staffing pattern for the next day, nursing staff may call out because they know that staffing will remain adequate in their absence or they know that staffing is already short-handed. The lack of disciplinary action for excessive absenteeism may also be a cause. When staff know that they will not be held accountable or that the disciplinary action will be minor, they continue their behavior. Although we all have to call out at times, excessive absenteeism in nursing can have negative effects on the profession. How Excessive Absenteeism Can Negatively Affect the Work EnvironmentExcessive absenteeism can have various negative effects on the nursing work environment and the nursing profession in general. We are all aware of the global nursing shortage, problems of excessive absenteeism only exacerbate this problem by decreasing what may be an already shortened staffing pattern. Other examples of the negative effects of excessive absenteeism include low staff morale, increased workloads, decreased productivity, disruption of routine workflow, job dissatisfaction, and a lower quality of patient care. Let's take a more indepth look at some of these negative effects. Disruption of routine workflow:Nursing staff generally have the same patient assignments, hall, or unit. When another staff member calls out, assignments have to be rearranged to supplement for the absent staff member. This can cause a disruption in your usual routine and the continuity of care. Increased workloads:When nursing staff is absent this generally means that other staff members will have more patients assigned to their workload. Decreased productivity:Nursing staff may have less motivation resulting in a decreased output of work, which can be costly to employers. Low morale:Nursing staff become unhappy and dissatisfied with their job and have a negative overall outlook of their work environment. Job dissatisfaction:Job dissatisfaction related to staffing issues and call outs is can be directly linked to high turnover rates. Decreased quality of patient care:Patient satisfaction, which is one of the most important measurements for the quality of patient care, suffers greatly when nurses have low morale, increased workloads, and decreased productivity. Solutions to Excessive Call Outs in NursingWhat are some interventions that could help decrease excessive absenteeism in the nursing profession? A firmly set attendance policyStrict and consistent adherence to the attendance policyVerbal counselingWritten write-upsTerminationAs nurses, we took an oath to provide good, high-quality patient care to the people whom we deliver care to. A nurse should also be professional, punctual, and a team player because it takes every member of the interprofessional healthcare team to deliver good quality patient care. Attendance plays a huge part in this. We must take into account who might be affected in our absence including your team members, patients, your organization as a whole, and the healthcare system in general. Nursing is not just an 8 or 12-hour job, but a career that requires 24-hour accountability, and excessive absenteeism has no place in the nursing profession. This article is just some of my thoughts on the issue. Is this a problem in your healthcare setting? What interventions would you recommend to resolve the problem?
-
-
@RNNPICU, thank you for your comment. I appreciate all opinions on the topic which is why I wrote the article. To clarify some of your statements, if you did not not the candidate who received the promotion was not even eligible for it because she was still in her 90 day probation period. Several organizational policies were not followed in the process. If an external candidate had gotten the job your statements would be valid, but not in this situation. As for my reaction, we are all different and feel and handle things differently, which is why I stress you never know how people are affected by discrimination until it happens to you.
-
-
-
Racial discrimination is the discrimination of minority individuals based on their race, skin color, or ethnicity. Racial discrimination is a popular topic today evidenced by instances of police shooting unarmed suspects and individuals calling the police on minorities for no reason. The problem is exacerbated by social media videos and political influences. Racial discrimination can occur in any setting including your work setting, stores and restaurants, a job interview, and even applying for credit. The nursing profession is not immune to the problem of racial discrimination either. Less than 25% of the nursing workforce in the United States are minorities. Racial discrimination can be the basis for failures to promote, termination, patient requests, and disciplinary actions. Have you ever been told that the patient requested "only white nurses", or they stated that they "did not want a black nurse"? These are some examples of racial discrimination demonstrated by patients in the nursing profession. Minority nurses may experience racially motivated bullying and feel as if they are being talked down to by other members of the interprofessional healthcare team, such as physicians, managers, supervisors, administrators, and even colleagues and coworkers. The failure to promote based on racial discrimination has been happening for years and is the basis for many discrimination lawsuits. My Story: My own personal experience with racial discrimination in nursing stemmed from a situation of failure to promote. I had been an employee working for a healthcare facility for approximately three years. In the course of my employment, I had obtained a Bachelor Degree in Nursing and was working on a Master's Degree in Nursing Administration. A month or so prior to the incident, I was trained in the charge nurse/supervisor role and began to fill in in the absence of the supervisor. When the supervisor was promoted to the nurse manager position it was expected that I would move into the open supervisor position. The position was posted and there were both internal and external candidates. During the application and interview process, I continued to fill in in the supervisor position, which lasted for a little over a month. I was eventually notified that the position had been given to another internal candidate who had not even completed the 90-day probation period. Other contraindications for this promotion included the selected candidate not having a bachelor's degree and not being already trained in the position. We both had charge nurse and supervisory experience, although she had been a nurse longer than me, I had more experience in that specialty and setting. The only major difference between us was race. How can a new employee with less experience and credentials be chosen for promotion over a 3-year employee with the experience and credentials, and already trained and doing the job? I asked myself the same question. Even after the other nurse was promoted, I continued to fill in as the relief charge nurse. So did that mean I was good enough to fill in but not good enough to be the permanent supervisor? The whole situation affected me very negatively. I lost confidence in myself and began to think about quitting the master's degree program. I began to question if it even mattered that I had an advanced degree because my race and skin color would block me from moving up in the nursing profession. I became so discouraged and disillusioned with being in nursing administration and eventually changed my concentration to nursing education. For days it clouded my thoughts and judgment. I had trouble sleeping and just felt bad in general. Eventually, I decided that I had to address the situation in order to move on. There are measures you can take to protect yourself against racial discrimination. Racial discrimination is a violation of the "Civil Rights Act of 1964". Minority nurses who feel that their civil rights have been violated should first file a complaint with their organization's human resource office. In some cases, a complaint must be filed with your organization's corporate human resources office. If the issue is not resolved, the nurse may choose to take action outside of the company and retain an attorney for the potential of filing a Civil Action Lawsuit. In some instances of racial discrimination, you may react negatively lashing out or becoming indignant. This is the wrong action to take. When dealing with instances of racial discrimination in nursing remember to: Confront the situation but stay professionalKeep a written record of occurrencesDo not quit your jobAttempt to resolve the issue internallySeek outside counsel if necessaryBeing racially discriminated against may not be a big deal to some, but the truth is discrimination can affect you mentally, emotionally, and even physically. No one should be allowed to make you feel diminished or second best based on the color of your skin. Are there any other minority nurses out there who have experienced racial discrimination in nursing?
