Happiness 1st Institute Programs

Nursing is a stressful occupation–stressful for many reasons. There are often long hours working in physically challenging conditions. The mental and emotional stress of working with individual who are ill and making decision where the consequences of an error can be life threatening. It all adds up and takes a toll. Often, nurses struggle outside of work as well–in part because the income may have to stretch to cover their expenses and because shift schedules and stress make relationships more difficult to maintain.

 

Whenever I’ve been in need of assistance, whether while having a baby or another health procedure, I have felt the caring of the nurses who helped me and been comforted by it. There is much that could be done to make nurses jobs less stressful.  But there is one thing, perhaps the easiest to accomplish and the most beneficial, that I do not see being done often. What is it?

It is giving nurses training in skills they can use to reduce their own stress levels. These skills increase their resilience and emotional intelligence which translates into an easier time for nurses and better nurses for the patients and their employer. Increasing resilience will reduce the likelihood a nurse will decide to leave the profession–something that happens too often and is contributing significantly to the nursing shortage. The nursing shortage, in turn, make the lives of nurses more difficult because fewer nurses have to cover multiple shifts and have less flexibility in the shifts.

Also, stress reduces cognitive function. Reduced cognitive function increases the risk of a mistake.

Then there is the association with pain. Pain is not in ones head but when one is in a low emotional state, the body communicates more of the pain to the conscious mind. When someone is in a good mood, the sensation of pain is reduced. Hospitals with critically ill patients noticed that when the football games were on, the request for pain medicine declined. Some have installed ESPN as a result of these findings. I notice it myself when I dance. I can dance for hours without my feet hurting but stop dancing and stand still for a moment and they put me in agony. I’ve played with this–because I understand the link between pleasure and pain–and resumed dancing when my feet were in agony. The pain recedes as soon as I begin dancing to a good song again. Nurses often have painful foot and back problems. Stress management skills could help nurses manage the pain.

For more information, please see my latest book: TRUE Prevention–Optimum Health: Remember Galileo

To learn the stress reduction/happiness increasing skills for your self, register for a class offered on this site.

Questions? Contact us using the contact form.