There is perhaps no career more important or rewarding than that of the trauma nurse. And yet this laudable career is also among the most stressful, the most physically, mentally, and emotionally demanding of all in the field of health care—and beyond.
That means that if you want your career to be a long, happy, and successful one, then you have to be proactive both in safeguarding your well-being and in preventing burnout. This is why community and self-care are imperative for trauma nurses.
Protecting Mental Health
Trauma nurses deal with crises, tending to patients and families who are experiencing the worst day of their lives. Day in and day out, trauma nurses fight to save the sickest patients, and though there are many victories, there are also many losses.
This reality underscores the preeminent importance of mental health care for trauma nurses. In addition to individualized, one-on-one counseling, for example, therapy groups dedicated to health care providers, particularly those working in trauma units, can help nurses develop the networks of support they need to withstand the emotional and psychological rigors of the job.
After all, no one can understand or empathize with the experience of trauma nursing quite like those who have been through it for themselves. Such peer communities can provide both perspective and comfort in a way that perhaps no other community can.
Trauma Nursing in Paradise
Working in a trauma unit is deeply challenging in the best of circumstances, but when you are a trauma nurse in a vacation city, the difficulties are often amplified.
For instance, you’re likely to experience unusually high patient volumes during holidays and peak travel season, and the cases you encounter will likely be especially taxing both for your mind and spirit. You’ll probably see, for example, a disproportionate number of injuries relating to alcohol use or simple recklessness, and a significant proportion of these patients may be young, even children and teens.
If you’re not physically, mentally, and emotionally prepared in times like these, then you can easily become overwhelmed and even ill. Preparing for the demands of the job and taking the time to recover mentally and physically after each shift can not only help keep you well, but it can also make you a more effective and empathetic nurse.
That means, at the very least, you should create a self-care regime that allows you to center yourself, find your calm and your focus at the start of the workday, and enables you to decompress and re-energize at the end of it.
A few minutes of meditation before your shift, for instance, followed by a nourishing meal, warm bath, and a solid night’s sleep after it will help you withstand and heal from all that your workday has thrown at you.
Trauma Nursing in Pandemic Times
If the COVID-19 outbreak has taught us anything, it’s that our nurses are our modern-day superheroes. And yet it seems that the demands placed on nurses during COVID times have been unending.
For instance, at the peak of the pandemic, public health officials and government leaders took the drastic but necessary step of transitioning as much of the health care system as possible to digital platforms.
While this assuredly helped to protect vulnerable patients from viral exposure while also reducing the burden on hospitals and clinics, it has also increased the burden of responsibility that health care providers were asked to carry. More specifically, the rapid, crisis-driven shift to telemedicine tasked doctors and nurses not only with learning a whole new set of technologies but also with dramatically altering their patient care practices and to do it within a matter of mere days or weeks.
In the wake of the pandemic, however, it appears that the move to remote care will continue. This, though, can be a challenge for the trauma nurse because some may find these virtual clinics at once limiting and lonely. To be sure, severely sick or injured patients will not and cannot be treated remotely, which means that trauma nurses working in telemedicine may find themselves unable to deploy their skill set to the fullest.
Even more significant, however, is that remote care platforms may deprive trauma nurses of the sense of community and care that they need, especially in these difficult times. This, once again, illuminates the necessity of self-care, even if you have to baby-step your self-nurturing habits.
One night a week spent on the town with friends and colleagues, two weekends a month spent in nature, or even an afternoon at the spa—any of these when done on a regular basis can help keep you physically, mentally, and emotionally well. And that’s a gift you give not only to yourself but to your family, your coworkers, and, above all, to your patients.
The Takeaway
Self-care and community are not optional indulgences for trauma nurses. They are real and present needs for anyone who expects to endure, survive, and thrive under the conditions that trauma nurses encounter each workday.
It’s easy to joke around about being a “workaholic.” Whether you love your job or you just feel obligated to stay busy and pick up extra shifts, you might think there’s nothing wrong with spending most of your time at work.
Unfortunately, that’s the problem.
By making light of being a workaholic, you could be ignoring some important – and potentially troubling – signs. Work addiction can impact people in different ways, and it’s easy for those in the nursing field to fall into it.
While you might think you’re doing something good for your hospital or practice, work addiction could actually be putting you and others in high-risk situations. If you’re burnt out or overtired, you could end up harming yourself, another staff member, or a patient.
But, how do you know if you’re struggling with work addiction? There are a few common signs to look out for. Let’s cover a few of them and how you can avoid work addiction in your field.
Many people who deal with work addiction might also consider themselves to be perfectionists. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it can be taken to extremes.
If you’re not sure what work addiction looks like, some of the common signs include staying long hours at work, using your job to avoid your personal life, and dealing with a constant fear of failure while you’re working. You might also start sacrificing your relationships with others because of your career.
In extreme cases, people with work addiction can feel stressed when they aren’t at work, and they try to figure out how they can free up more of their time to be at their job.
If you can’t remember the last time you took a break from work – or thinking about work – you should consider that a pretty big red flag.
The Effects of Work Addiction
Even if you can recognize some of the signs above, you might be asking yourself if it’s really a big deal.
So what? You work a lot. That’s not a bad thing, right?
Unfortunately, work addiction can quickly take its toll on your mental and physical health, leading to problems like:
Burnout
Impaired judgment
Lack of motivation
Health issues
From a physical standpoint, work addiction can cause you to feel fatigued. If you’re not getting the rest you need, you can experience headaches, muscle aches, digestive issues, and even eye strain from staring at computers or working in bad lighting all day. Taking breaks is the best way to avoid almost all of these issues.
Mentally, working too much and feeling the need to be perfect while doing it will also take its toll. People dealing with work burnout have an increased risk of anxiety, depression, and distress. It can also skew your outlook on life, making you easily irritable and negative. When you’re actively working with other people and trying to take care of patients, these potential effects can be dangerous for everyone.
How to Avoid Work Addiction
It may not be easy to admit you’re a workaholic. But, recognizing some of the signs above can help you realize your drive for perfectionism could be doing more harm than good.
Thankfully, there are things you can do to avoid work addiction – or stop it in its tracks.
First, make your health a priority. Find a way to strike a healthy work-life balance that gives you time to recharge every day so your job isn’t the only thing you’re thinking about. A strong work-life balance allows you to rest, but it also will help with your relationships and other hobbies and interests you want to pursue.
Self-care is also extremely important when you’re trying to avoid work addiction. We’ve already covered some of the harmful things working too much can do to your mind and body. Self-care combats those problems. Exercise, cook a healthy meal, read a good book, or spend some time outside. Find small moments every day to do something just for you, without any other agenda.
If you’re struggling to avoid working too much, consider your goals and think about your expectations. How have you been defining success, and how does that need to change? Think about the benefits of stepping away from so much work, and how it can improve your life.
In some cases, individual or group therapy can help with work addiction – especially if there’s an underlying cause. Maybe you grew up in a family where perfection was constantly expected, and that fear of failure has stayed with you into adulthood. Sometimes, dealing with those root issues can make a big difference in how you feel and what you view as important.
There’s no denying that nursing is a high-stress job. That’s why it’s so important to find time for yourself and to step away for a break sometimes. Work addiction might not seem like a bad thing on the surface, but it can create major issues for your health and career if you don’t address it now.
There’s no question that nursing is a stressful career. While it can be incredibly rewarding, one study found that 98% of hospital nurses reported their work is physically and mentally demanding.
The pandemic has added to that stress, not only due to increased fear but more recently because of healthcare staffing shortages across the country. Many nurses are struggling with their mental health now much more than they were before the pandemic began.
Needless to say, it’s more important than ever for nurses to prioritize their mental health.
As a nurse, your primary focus is likely always on your patients. But, you won’t be able to care for them properly if you don’t first practice self-care.
With that in mind, let’s look at a few ways nurses can prioritize their mental health. These ideas can help you to avoid burnout, and be more present and focused for your patients.
Create a Relaxing Space at Home
Your home should be your sanctuary – a place you can “escape” from the stress of work. So, it’s important to take a look at your home environment and determine how it might be impacting you. Your environment has more to do with your mental health than you may realize. You can establish a more peaceful, calming home environment by:
Using neutral or calming colors in each room
Having a distraction-free zone
Decluttering as much as possible
Using calming scents like lavender
Keeping things cozy with extra blankets and pillows as part of your decor
Adding things around your home that are known for reducing stress and improving mental health can also help, including houseplants. Throughout the pandemic, more people have become “plant parents,” but there are more benefits to owning a plant or two than just having something to take care of. Bringing nature indoors can be therapeutic. Plants improve air quality, reduce stress, and combat feelings of anxiety and depression.
Everyone’s ideal environment looks different. Consider the things that help you relax, and make sure your home is a reflection of that, so you’ll always have a place to go to combat stress.
Try Relaxation Techniques
Whether you’re at home, on the job, or out and about, you never know when you might feel overwhelmed or stressed. In those situations, it can help to have some relaxation techniques in your arsenal that can bring you back to the present and help you to feel calm.
Mindfulness and meditation are two wonderful ways to do that, and you can easily introduce them into your life as part of your routine, or as needed.
Many people have the wrong idea about meditation. It doesn’t require any special posing or chants. Rather, it requires you to focus on your breathing and clearing your mind. The practice of mindfulness is similar, ensuring that you focus on the present moment, rather than anything else. Other thoughts will come, but it can help to think of them like clouds passing by, rather than something you can grab onto.
It can take some time and practice to get used to mindfulness and meditation. Start by closing your eyes and taking a few deep breaths. Focus on those breaths, and how your body feels. By shifting your focus away from the world around you and looking internally, you’ll calm down quickly, and feel more relaxed when you get back to your day. As a bonus, these practices can help you to feel more productive at work, especially when you’re struggling with anxiousness on the job.
The Little Things Add Up
As a nurse, you might work odd shifts. You probably also work a lot of long hours, and you might think you don’t have time to practice self-care each day. But, that isn’t true. There are some common misconceptions that self-care requires something luxurious or lavish.
In reality, taking care of yourself every day can mean doing something small, yet meaningful.
Even if you have a busy schedule, finding time to do small things can leave you feeling refreshed and less stressed every day. If you’re not sure how to get started, consider some of the following ideas that can make a big difference in your mental health:
Exercising
Eating healthy meals
Interacting with friends/family
Prioritizing sleep
Going somewhere fun
Taking part in activities you enjoy can also help to boost your mental health. Try painting, journaling, playing a sport, or even listening to music. None of those things have to take much time out of your day. But, by making self-care a priority – even if it’s only for a short time – you will always have something to look forward to, and a way to remind yourself to relax.
Mental health care has always been important for nurses. Now, however, it’s in the spotlight because of the pandemic. Don’t let your own well-being suffer because of your career. If you feel like your mental health is struggling, reach out for professional help. In the meantime, use these ideas to prioritize your mental wellness, so you can be the best nurse possible while still finding joy and peace in your life.
No matter what your particular diagnosis, your neurodiversity is a part of who you are. It shapes the way that you experience, understand, and move through the world. It is both a challenge and a gift, an obstacle, and an opportunity. However, for nursing students, as well as for those who have already launched their nursing careers, being neurodiverse can bring its own unique set of challenges, particularly as the modern health system remains ill-prepared to accommodate the needs and to capitalize upon the unique talents of neurodiverse nurses. Whether you are preparing to enter the field, you’re just starting out, or you’re well-entrenched in your nursing career, we have tips to help you manage your work and your neurodiversity.
Unfortunately, many nursing programs simply are not equipped to address the broad spectrum of needs that their neurodiverse students may have. For this reason, nursing school is often the most challenging period of a neurodiverse nurse’s career. Nursing school, by its nature, is intended to place intense demands on students to prepare them for the immense stress and rigorous demands of the career.
But the challenges that neurodiverse students face in nursing school are manifold, particularly when compared with their neurotypical peers. For nurses who are pursuing graduate degrees, mental health impacts are a particular concern. To make it through, nursing students at all levels must prioritize their mental well-being, recognizing the unique demands and challenges they are facing and seeking out the resources they need to protect their psychological and emotional health.
This should include, for instance, capitalizing on the support services offered on campus, including university-based mental health counseling. Many undergraduate and graduate schools also offer specialized services, including services for students with learning differences. Disability services offices, for instance, can help neurodiverse students with dyslexia or sensory processing disorders receive accommodations to meet the student’s diverse learning needs without compromising the quality of the education.
This can not only enhance the student’s learning experience, but can also decrease the chances of attrition by decreasing the risk of anxiety, depression, and other detrimental mental health impacts.
Launching a Career
Unfortunately, neurodiverse nurses are not necessarily in the clear once they graduate nursing school. Some health systems and employers simply are not prepared to accommodate neurodiversity in their nursing staff. This is why new nurses must learn to recognize warning signs when in the early phases of their career, and particularly when taking on a new post.
For example, if you find that there are inordinately high rates of turnover with your new employer or if there seem to be chronic staffing shortages, this may be a significant warning sign that leadership may not be very tolerant of employee diversity. In such a case, it may be in your best interest to look elsewhere rather than investing too much time, too much heart, in a post that’s not right for you or your career.
Established Nurses
Even if you are already well-established in your nursing career, you might find yourself still struggling to navigate your profession while meeting your particular needs as a neurodiverse individual. If this is the case, then far and away one of the best things that you can do for yourself is to attend to your own mental health.
A vast body of research has shown that nurses, both neurotypical and neurodiverse, often struggle with mental illnesses, particularly for those who have been working on the frontlines of the pandemic. And because neurodiversity can amplify those stressors, the importance of quality mental health care is all the greater.
In addition to prioritizing your mental health, it’s also important to connect with other nurses and health care providers who are neurodiverse. Fortunately, though the national health system still lags woefully behind other professions in its capacity to integrate neurodiversity into the workforce, the tide appears to be turning. New support networks are emerging, for instance, both to connect neurodiverse nurses and to educate their neurotypical colleagues and nurse managers.
Utilizing these resources can enable neurodiverse nurses to cultivate an empowering sense of community, to understand their legal and professional rights, and to seek out opportunities for professional growth, including opportunities to capitalize on and utilize the unique gifts that come with neurodiversity.
The Takeaway
Neurodiversity is by no means rare. Neurodiverse professionals increasingly populate every field. And yet neurodiverse nursing students and practicing nurses often still face formidable challenges. However, there are strategies that students and practitioners alike can use to both build a successful and fulfilling career while also protecting their own mental health. This includes connecting with the university-based resources available to nursing students, learning how to identify employers and health systems that may not be prepared to support neurodiverse nurses as they deserve, and reaching out to support and education networks for emerging, new, and established nurses.
If the last two years have taught us anything, it is the profound role that public health nurses play in keeping our families, our communities, and our world safe. The life of a public health nurse is not always easy by any means, but it can yield rewards and opportunities that are unimaginable to those outside the field.
Nevertheless, it can take time to find your bearings in the field of public health nursing. But there are a few important lessons new and aspiring public health nurses need to know to start their careers off right!
Responsibilities Beyond Patient Care
People generally get into nursing because, above all, they want to help others. And for nurses, that usually means a strong focus on providing patient care.
For public health nurses, though, caring for patients may be only a portion of the average workday. In fact, public health nurses’ responsibilities can be quite wide-ranging, involving everything from workplace and community-based health education to public health policy development.
But those are by no means the only career options open to public health nurses. If you love doing research, then you may find yourself working in the domains of public health analytics or epidemiology. On the other hand, if managing organizations or leading and developing talent is more up your alley, your background in public health nursing can well lead to a career in health system administration.
And what all this means is that new and aspiring public health nurses would do well to explore the myriad opportunities that the career offers. Building your ideal career trajectory in public health can begin even before you have your first assignment as a public health nurse.
Practicing Self-Care
To be sure, nurses in the public health space enjoy seemingly limitless opportunities. But as rewarding as the career may be, it is important to be wary of the inevitable challenges.
Public health nursing can also subject care workers to tremendous stress, exposing them to immense physical, psychological, and emotional pressure. This is true not only in periods of a public health crisis but also at any time when stresses are high.
The holidays, for example, can be an anxious and exhausting time for anyone, but they can be especially so when your job also involves significant stress.
So, as you contend both with the rigors of the holiday season and the challenges of launching your new career in public health, it’s imperative to practice self-care. And that should include ensuring that you set small, realistic goals for the season.
Know your limits and ensure that you make time every day for sufficient sleep, good nutrition, healthy exercise, and a bit of downtime alone or with the people you love.
Above all, self-care as a public health nurse must also include the acknowledgment of and respect for the challenges you face in your work. The work, as rewarding as it may be, can also introduce stressors that may, in turn, contribute to depression and anxiety.
Learning to recognize these risks, and the symptoms associated with these conditions, is essential if you are to enjoy the long and vibrant career you want and the overall quality of life you deserve.
Hard and Soft Skills
Because public health nurses are required to wear so many hats in fulfilling their duties, it’s going to be important that you cultivate a diverse skillset beyond even that of hands-on patient care.
For example, since public health is very much a data-driven endeavor, you’re likely going to need some pretty deep computer skills.
And because your focus is on the health of the communities you serve, you will also probably find yourself traveling extensively, particularly to areas that are medically underserved or that are considered to be at high risk for a public health crisis, whether that pertains to the threat of infectious disease or the risk of non-communicable but ubiquitous illness, such as heart disease and diabetes.
Thus, as you launch your career in public health nursing, it’s important to be prepared for the unique demands that such public service will place on you. You will likely need to become comfortable with spending significant amounts of time away from home, and with adjusting quickly to new environments and cultures.
The Takeaway
There are few careers as rewarding as that of the public health nurse. Opportunities in the field are as diverse as they are numerous, offering public health nurses the chance to engage in challenging and important work in areas ranging from epidemiology to hospital administration. Best of all, the career enables nurses to take a place at the front lines of health education and policy-making, Nevertheless, it is crucial that public health nurses also be cognizant of and prepared for the substantial demands that will be placed on them, from the pressures associated with the work itself to the realities that personal sacrifice, including time spent away from home, will sometimes be required.
