Health care professionals like nurses have one of the industry’s most mentally and physically demanding jobs. Their responsibilities extend beyond caring for just one patient. At times, they are responsible for multiple patients, providing comfort and critical care. Doing that every day takes a toll on someone’s body.
If you, as a nurse, don’t adequately manage your stress and fatigue, you may be risking your health, professional license and career.
The mental and physical challenges of nursing
It’s undeniable that nursing is a challenging profession. The job involves dealing with critical situations, managing multiple tasks simultaneously and making crucial decisions on the fly. This high-stress environment can lead to both mental and physical exhaustion.
Mental challenges can range from dealing with the emotional toll of patient care to handling the stress of making life-changing decisions. Physical challenges include long hours, irregular sleep patterns due to shift work and the physical strain of being on your feet all day.
Burnout is a clear sign that you are reaching your limit, whether the stressor is physical or mental. This is where it becomes crucial to pause and reflect on what you can do to maintain the standard of care your patients need from you.
Deal with stress and burnout in a sustainable way
It’s important to manage stress and burnout in a healthy and sustainable manner rather than resorting to unhealthy coping mechanisms. Not only do these mechanisms fail to resolve the problem, but they also provide temporary relief until it’s time to deal with the root causes again. If you continue to rely on unhealthy habits, you prolong and might even exacerbate the problem, leading to:
- Making medical errors
- Lapses in judgment
- Carelessness with patient care
- Not communicating effectively
Managing stress is not just about reducing the risk of these mishaps. It’s also about addressing your stress and burnout issues so that you can care for your patients and maintain a resilient, long-term career in nursing.
Maintain your nursing license
It’s critical to take care of your health and well-being so you can continue caring for others. Otherwise, feelings of overwhelm and burnout could impede your ability to perform your duties, potentially risking your nursing license. In such cases, seeking a lawyer to help with your situation might be necessary.
But for now, take care of yourself to be able to care for others.
