Nurses know what they are getting themselves into on an intellectual level. Emotionally, nothing can really prepare them for the responsibilities of their work. While nursing students do acquire significant clinical experience even the hours that they log in the hospital setting do not fully simulate what it is like to be a working nurse.
Nursing students aren’t making life-and-death decisions. They are closely supervised by professionals who will step in at any moment.
They also just don’t do it as frequently. Clinicals are just a small part of what nursing students do. Hospital life is the reality for working nurses.
They lose patients, and then go home to families who couldn’t possibly understand what that emotional experience was like.
In this article, we look at the emotional risk factors of working as a nurse.
Depression
Beyond the sadness of their work, nurses also are forced to think about things that the general population can usually remain blissfully unaware of.
For example, consider healthcare professionals working in elder care. Their patients, aside from being old, are entirely average. They are not usually experiencing a rare or unusual disease. They are simply living out what awaits everyone who survives to an advanced age.
Watching the natural process of human decline can be very depressing. You naturally imagine yourself in this position or perhaps worse, people you care about.
Constant exposure to sad situations can wear on a person over time. Depression is a very real risk factor for nurses.
Burn Out
Healthcare burnout gets a lot of ink. It’s this factor that is widely blamed for the healthcare worker shortage problem that is being experienced all across America. While the actual reasons behind nurses leaving are more complicated than simple burnout, it is a contributing factor.
In the introduction, we provided a rough sketch of what it’s like to be a nurse. Imagine it. Every day you see people suffer and possibly die at work. At home, you have a good support system, but they simply can’t relate to your experiences.
Stress factors in other career paths just don’t compare. If your spouse is in marketing, they might understand what it feels like to be stressed at work. They won’t understand what it feels like to be the deciding factor between life and death for another person.
These stress factors can quickly culminate into feelings of stress and anxiety. Nurses simply become burned out by the immense weight of responsibility that is their job.
Compassion Fatigue
On the other end of the spectrum is compassion fatigue. This takes place when a healthcare professional watches so much human suffering that they no longer empathize with it the way they used to.
It’s not that they don’t care about their patients. It’s simply that their pain and suffering no longer inspire a deep emotional reaction.
A degree of emotional detachment is necessary. Complete numbness is not.
What happens when these feelings are left unchecked?
When these feelings accumulate, one of two things happens:
- The nurse quits. They become part of the overwhelmingly high employment turnover statistics plaguing the world of nursing. Or…
- They don’t quit. That can be even worse, in a way.
Fortunately, there are ways that healthcare professionals can process their emotions effectively and stay in the game for longer.
How to Handle the Emotional Toll of Nursing
The burden of responsibility is not entirely— or even mostly— on the nurse. Healthcare systems need to do a better job of supporting their employees as they deal with stress and emotional wellness.
As mental health has become an increasingly bigger buzzphrase in the world of employment, many helpful initiatives are already taking place. For example, some hospitals are leveraging shorter shifts and more extensive support resources as a way to attract new talent. While this is an imperfect strategy for dealing with depression, it is a good start.
In many ways, there has never been a better time to be a nurse where employer-led support is concerned.
That said, there are things that the nurses will need to do for themselves. There are lifestyle modifications that can help you handle the stress factors in a way that is healthy and productive. For example:
- Get adequate rest. It’s the most cliched advice there is, leveraged for everything from weight loss to stress management, but it keeps coming up for one reason: it works. Without good sleep, your brain will have a harder time producing the chemicals responsible for feelings of wellness and peace.
- Practice Mindfulness. One of the most nefarious things about stress or depression is that they can fester inside you unnoticed for months, even years, if you aren’t keeping an eye out for them. You know you feel off. You just don’t know why. Mindfulness techniques, guided breathing, meditation, yoga, etc. will help you recognize your feelings. Sometimes that recognition alone is a major step forward.
- Avoid Hedonic Pitfalls. Psychologists regularly reference two forms of happiness. Hedonic—which refers to short-term pleasures, and eudonic—which refers to lifestyle modifications that improve your overall emotional baseline. Hedonic bliss comes from things like shopping, drinking, eating fried food, etc. People tend to reach for these things because they produce an immediate, predictable result. Eudonic sources of pleasure, exercise, time outside, and healthy eating, provide a more sustainable, but often subtler sense of well-being.
To that latter point, there is nothing inherently wrong with hedonic indulgences—provided you understand that an indulgence is exactly what it is. A good goal for anyone is to build habits that contribute to a healthier, happier emotional baseline.
Conclusion
Nursing isn’t easy but it doesn’t need to be nightmarishly hard either. Pay attention to your feelings. Take care of yourself. If you need help, seek it out.
Another thing to keep in mind? If you aren’t happy in your specific nursing role, there are so many other directions you can take your certification. You can consider going back to school to become a nurse practitioner. While graduate school is a hurdle NPs must take, it will set you up for a more personally—and financially—rewarding career.
NPs can engage in aspects of the work that interest them the most. They can leverage exciting concepts—like the research-intensive evidence-based practice—into the work they can do. They have more freedom and greater opportunities.
There are so many ways to work as a nurse. Before you start checking the want ads for an entirely new career, see if you can find your groove in the world of healthcare.
Photo Credits
Image by travisdmchenry from Pixabay
Guest Author Bio
Sarah Daren
With a Bachelor’s in Health Science along with an MBA, Sarah Daren has a wealth of knowledge within both the health and business sectors. Her expertise in scaling and identifying ways tech can improve the lives of others has led Sarah to be a consultant for a number of startup businesses, most prominently in the wellness industry, wearable technology and health education. She implements her health knowledge into every aspect of her life with a focus on making America a healthier and safer place for future generations to come.
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