Y'all probably are going to think I'm insane, but I have to play little mindgames with myself to bear my work environment.
The first one I do is the percentage game. I make sure to note when I'm 25% done my shift, 50% done my shift, 75% done my shift, etc. For some reason, it makes me feel so much better than "I have nine hours left".
In order to deal with terribly rude and nasty patients and family members, I pretend I'm acting in a movie script. I'm the role of a person who is extremely kind and gracious. In this movie, nothing angers me or makes me feel like crap. The better I act like nothing bothers me and remain gracious, the more money I will make for my movie. LMAO.
I know you all definitely think I'm crazy now (and yes, I do have a plan to get out of bedside nursing, hopefully within the next two years) but these tactics really do help me sometimes.
Specializes in Recovery (PACU)-11 yrs, General-13yrs.
My motto is:
Doesn't matter what happens, we still get to go home at the end of the shift, and they'll still pay us for it. (and I get paid for wearing pyjamas at work!)
I try to have fun with my coworkers, much in the same way Roy described. I really believe in teamwork also....a little help to a nurse falling behind, toss in a few laughs while doing the work, and the night goes much faster.
I like to play games with myself too. I challenge myself to draw labs from a PICC line without a pt waking up (mostly in the dark) - on a good night I don't wake them up at all! Same thing with hanging piggybacks, I sneak in, hang it and chalk up a success if I didn't wake up the pt. (Well, those games don't apply to ICU - only when I float to tele!)
I sing to the other nurses too. I have a horrible voice which makes it all the more fun. I only do classic rock songs.
I am grateful that in these hard times I have a job that pays the bills!
That said, sometimes when I'm having a bad bad day I quote lines from my favorite movies, if only in my head. My favorite movies to quote are Forrest Gump, Austin Powers the first, LOTR, or What About Bob? My coworkers think I'm nuts but it really helps.
If I have a particularly difficult patient, I remind myself that at the end of my shift, I get to go home and said patient has to stay put!
Like many others I am very gratefull to have a job. Having that job makes it possible for me to live in a gorgeous conservation area.
I have 4 days off in a row per week. I pretend that I am going on vacation every week. Thinking about how relaxing my vacation is going to be in my paradise on the lake makes my work time seem worth it. I really savor my time off.
I work my three twelve hour shifts, 7p to 7a on the weekends. It's less stressful, pays quite a bit more, and there is less contact with management, a huge plus for me.
When applicable to what is going on in my unit, I sometimes think of two of the rules from The House of God: the patient is the one with the disease, and at a cardiac arrest the first procedure is to take your own pulse. This sort of helps keep me grounded with humor, and reminds me that I do not have to be perfect though I do try my best.
The night crew is a great bunch, and that makes everything so much easier.
diane227, LPN, RN
1,941 Posts
Ritalin in the morning, Xanax after work. (This is a joke).