Stress Scale

On a scale from 1-10, how would you rate your stress level on an average day in the NICU (with 10 being the highest stress possible)?

[Gompers, BSN, RN]

5

5 or 6

[Bailarina]

wow, everyday is so different. I have days where my stress scale is definitely a 10. I guess the lowest stress day would be a 5-6.

7-8 average though there have been plenty of 10s lately! The stress is either due to high acuity or high census. We actually went on diversion last week for the first time ever because we were swamped.

[prmenrs, RN]

3-4--I love Level II. When I worked in Level III, it was about 23 1/2 or so some days.

Seems like it's usually a 2-3 or a 8-10... Not usually in middle! And our whole unit seems to be that way as well - either we go a whole shift with no admission or we're getting 3 admissions, crashing kids, and calls for immediate transport!

I actually like the 8-10 nights... they just fly by.

[Gompers, BSN, RN]

I actually like the 8-10 nights... they just fly by.

Yep. I had about an 8 last night. I felt like a chicken with its head cut off for most of my shift! But luckily things wound down by 7am and I appeared quite organized when I reported off!

The last time I worked, though, was about a 2 or 3.

Love not knowing what kind of night I'll have! Keeps things exciting. Nice to have very relaxing nights to make up for the crazy ones.

[SteveNNP, MSN, NP]

Wow....no easy answer. Some nights are a 4-5, but a lot recently have been a 8-10. I left at 0930 the other morning, as my kids seem to like to code at 0600......