While rewarding, nursing is also incredibly demanding, and each shift requires hours of walking, standing, and moving from place to place. In short, the job requires that you have stamina and endurance. If you can’t keep up, then there are strategies you can try to regain your tenacity during those long shifts.
In addition to sleep and a proper work-life balance, another solution is to try out some high-adventure activities like surfing, skiing, and other exciting endeavors. These fun activities can help you relax during your off-time, and many can help during your shift. Here are some facts and tips to consider if you need a little pick-me-up at work.
Nursing Requires Stamina And Endurance
Nursing requires various physical demands, including mastering gross motor skills to move within confined spaces, maintain balance in awkward positions, and reach all directions. Physical strength is also required for lifting children, ambulating patients and supplies, and carrying or moving them around the hospital. All of that effort might be easy during a regular eight-hour shift. However, nurses often work double and even triple shifts.
Studies have shown that many nurses, especially those in emergency rooms and intensive care settings, take thousands of steps throughout the day. The studies also found that nurses who work during the day often take even more steps than nurses working at night. That’s impactful information, especially for nurses working day and night shifts without time off in between. Keeping that endurance for countless hours requires self-care; adventures during off-hours can help.
How High Adventure Hobbies Can Help
Long shifts are often required in nursing, and it’s not always easy to avoid them altogether. Still, during your off time, you should do things you enjoy. Luckily, many of the most fun activities can also help to build your endurance and stamina.
Surfing
Take surfing, which requires strength and patience to stay on the board as you cruise upon the waves. If you enjoy surfing, many exercises can help build your endurance in the ocean and during your nursing shift. One of them is running exercises, which help to improve your lung capacity and strengthen your legs. Push-ups are some of the best exercises nurses can get because they’ll help with your core strength on the surfboard and improve your upper body strength so you can lift that heavy equipment at the hospital for longer.
Skiing
Many nurses may want to hit the slopes and go skiing when winter comes. This activity requires training, and the exercises you use to prepare can also help in nursing. You’ll want a workout regime with a lot of cardio via running, the stair climber, and the elliptical trainer to succeed. All of that helps to condition your lungs and legs for a long day of skiing and being on your feet during a nursing shift. Some studies show that downhill skiing can be particularly helpful for your balance and posture, which can help when reaching and multitasking on the job.
ATV Riding
For a real rush, look around your town for a track where you can ride ATVs up ramps and through valleys. This is yet another activity that can help with endurance on the job. Riding an ATV requires a lot of lifting as you hold on and control the vehicle over rugged roads, and it builds stamina in your legs and arms. When you ride, you’ll feel it in your muscles, and the activity will strengthen them so you can go for longer while on the job. Studies have shown that riding ATVs and off-road motorcycles can improve isometric leg endurance and overall health.
Making Time For Hobbies
This information may seem all well and good, but taking the time to ride an ATV or surfboard with your busy nursing schedule may seem next to impossible. However, that’s only true if you let it be.
There are many ways to improve your work-life balance and make time to include hobbies in your busy lifestyle. A great way to help you say no and ensure you fit in your hobbies is to plan them. Pick a time you’ll go out with your friends and stick to it. Also, set realistic goals. So, if you want to ski for an hour to work on your legs for those longer shifts, plan accordingly.
You may want to work on your exercises but feel like you don’t have time to go to the gym. In that case, consider dedicating a space in your house to fit equipment and make room to stretch. If all else fails, your hospital or office may have a gym you can use.
Remember, your physical hobbies are not only for fun but also for your success on the job, so make them one of your priorities.
Conclusion
If you want to boost your stamina on the job, consider a high-adventure hobby that will help you let loose and improve your physical health. If you haven’t done anything exciting on your off-time, consider a change because the benefits can be great for your well-being.
If you’ve ever dreamed of having a side gig providing in-home patient care, Amanda Truffen, a Registered Palliative Care Nurse at Carpenter Hospice, is already doing just that.
Truffen used to work full-time in her hospice job, but now she works part-time there and spends her other time working in her side gig, TruCare Foot Health.
Truffen took time from her busy schedule to answer our questions about her business. What follows is our interview, edited for length and clarity.
Why did you start your side gig providing foot care for patients in their homes? How did you go about it, and had you worked in foot care before you began your own business?
I love my job at the hospice in my home city, although I found that I needed a plan to supplement my income. Taking advice from my friend, who was a Chiropodist, I went back to school and became certified in Basic and Advanced foot care. This would allow me to provide foot care for diabetic and non-diabetic clients. I called my side gig business TruCare Foot Health.
To get started and build experience in foot care, I worked on my days off for my friend, the chiropodist, in her clinic. This was an amazing opportunity for me. She was there to teach and guide me.
Her suggestion for me was to venture out on my own and provide foot care in client homes.
Many people in the community can’t get to an appointment or don’t want to. Many seniors rely on family to get them to their appointments. If a foot care nurse could go to their home, that would be one less thing they would have to request from them.
How did you know there was a need in the community for your service?
While working at the clinic, I would hear clients mention that they wished someone would come to their homes. It would make things easier for them. My friend was right! There was a need in the community.
I finally decided I was ready, then started spreading the word that I would go to the clients’ homes to provide foot care. A few of my first clients were from the foot clinic.
Some clients were those who had been taking taxis, had vision problems, and had difficulty walking. I also got other clients from the volunteers at the hospice.
I have built up close to 100 clients I see every six weeks. They are all seniors except two middle-aged men who work in construction and have feet that need some TLC. These men can claim their benefits, although coverage is tricky. Clients need to check with their insurance companies. Every policy is different. They may get full coverage, partial, or no coverage at all.
Do you have previous entrepreneurial experience or have you learned on the go?
This is my first experience with my own business. I had no idea what I was doing.
My uncle has a marketing consultancy, and he helped me with my business cards, posters, website, and every other marketing need. I still get compliments on his great work.
What are your most significant rewards of having a side gig?
My business is growing quickly, and I’m glad I did it. I love it. I make my own hours and can take my four kids to appointments and activities.
I also love this new path because I enjoy people—especially seniors. I see the same clients over and over and build relationships with them. They fill me in on their lives and their families’ lives.
When I visit their homes, I feel that I am not just there for foot care. They look forward to having company and building a relationship. It’s more like an experience.
I most enjoy the stories of their lives; they love to reminisce. It’s often a special time with lots of laughs.
I would tell any nurse who enjoys people and makes them feel pampered to start their side gig.
Providing foot care in the comfort of their own home is the way to go. There is a huge need in the community, and once your name is out there, it will just snowball.
Nurse practitioner Judy Vire has dedicated her life to establishing care for patients in rural parts of Central Texas. Her clinic, Kocurek & James, is one of a few providers offering medical care to communities desperate for easier access.
Vire has a master’s degree in nursing, was a nursing educator, and worked in many nursing roles, but she said her love of small-town America and the people there inspires her life’s work.
Daily Nurse proudly names Judy Vire the Nurse of the Week for her dedication to providing access to care to small-town and rural communities and caring for the most vulnerable patients, those who are unable to leave their homes.
Vire and her family settled in Flatonia, where she helped open the Rural Health Clinic in Flatonia and Schulenberg. Medical care is paramount for people in this rural part of Central Texas.
“It’s critical. Without having access to care close to home, people would be commuting into Austin, Katy, Victoria — that’s at least an hour’s drive any way you go,” Vire says. “These small communities depend on having these home-grown clinics close to home for convenience and access to care.”
Vire often makes house calls to the most vulnerable patients who cannot leave their homes.
“Because it’s a rural area, we serve an older population. The 65 and older are our largest population, and they, of course, need the most care,” Vire explains.
Regardless of whether a patient is old or young, Vire believes establishing trust is most important.
“Healthcare is personal. And when you have to tell someone bad news that impacts their lives, that is very personal, and people let you do that and trust you to do that,” she says.
That trust, she says, is why she’s given over 40 years to this career. Throughout her time at the Schulenberg clinic, she has seen generations of families making a daily impact on these communities.
In 2003, Vire was named Nurse Practitioner of the Year, and this year, she’s a Remarkable Woman nominee.
“It feels wonderful, and I was very surprised because there are a whole lot of more remarkable women than myself,” she says.
When asked about her most treasured career accomplishment at this clinic, she said it’s time.
“Maybe it’s longevity,” Vire says. “I can’t believe it’s been 30-some-odd years, and I am still doing this. I am proud of that.”
Nominate a Nurse of the Week! Every Wednesday, DailyNurse.com features a nurse making a difference in the lives of their patients, students, and colleagues. We encourage you to nominate a nurse who has impacted your life as the next Nurse of the Week, and we’ll feature them online and in our weekly newsletter.
At this time in history, the American nursing profession and its leadership are in a state of flux. The November 2023 American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL) Nursing Leadership Insight Longitudinal Study leverages nursing leaders’ perspectives to shed light on where we are and where we’re headed as a nursing collective.
In coordination with the AONL Foundation and Joslin Insight, five longitudinal studies have been conducted since 2020. The collective data are a fascinating avenue into the hearts and minds of nursing leaders and how they perceive the healthcare industry and nurses’ places in it.
Leadership Identifies Top Challenges
According to the 2,477 nurse leaders surveyed for the current AONL study, the top ten challenges facing the profession are:
Focusing on workplace behaviors such as violence, bullying, and incivility, 68% responded that they had witnessed one or more incidents of bullying at work. In terms of having seen one or more incidents of violence, 53% said they had. When it comes to incivility and intimidation, a stunning 77% and 72% had witnessed such aberrant behavior, respectively.
AONL concludes:
Nurses frequently encounter verbal abuse, physical assaults, and other forms of violence and intimidation from patients, patient families, the public, and coworkers, including physicians, other nurses, administration, managers, supervisors, faculty, and other staff (Figure 6). This hostile environment not only jeopardizes the safety and well-being of healthcare workers but also impacts patient care. The rising instances of workplace violence can lead to increased stress, burnout, and a sense of insecurity among healthcare professionals.
Addressing workplace violence, intimidation, incivility, and bullying requires comprehensive strategies, including enhanced security measures, de-escalation training, fostering a culture of safety, and providing trauma-informed care to healthcare workers. It also requires advocacy to raise broader public awareness.
Assessing nurse leaders’ emotional health, whereas 44% rated themselves as emotionally healthy in 2021, 52% now see themselves as such, and the number who viewed themselves as emotionally unhealthy dropped from 14% to 11% as we get further from the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The researchers state:
Regarding emotional health, there has been a slight improvement from last year. However, the data still shows a mix of emotional health states, ranging from very emotionally healthy to not at all emotionally healthy….. It’s crucial to recognize the need for continued efforts to support nurse leaders, especially nurse managers who fare worse in cultivating and maintaining healthier emotional well-being. Creating a nurturing environment for nurse leaders is vital to ensure their resilience, support, and effectiveness in their roles.
Intent to Leave
Attrition from the nursing profession and the attempt to retain top talent continues to be a struggle. Reports of nurses’ intent to leave either a current position or the profession as a whole are constantly troubling, especially in light of the ongoing nursing shortage that can be found in many healthcare labor markets around the country.
The AONL longitudinal study reveals the following:
This survey shows a marginal improvement in nurse leaders’ intent to leave with a 5% decrease in those planning to leave from 2022 to 2023. The survey examined intent to leave based on roles. The largest cohort of nurse leaders reporting intent to leave exists in the C-Suite with 15% of CNOs/CNEs planning to leave their positions within the next six months, contrasting with 12% of managers and 10% of directors. Among nurse leaders contemplating leaving, a notable 25% report considering leaving nursing altogether. Previously, 27% of respondents reported considering leaving nursing altogether.
The most often reported reasons for nurse managers and CNOs/CNEs leaving their roles include:
The negative impact of work on health and well-being
Pursuit of new opportunities
Challenges with other leaders or colleagues
Identified strategies for nurse leader retention include facilitating time off for work-life balance, opportunities for professional growth, and the perception that the employing organization understands leaders’ concerns, cares for their well-being, acknowledges and responds to their concerns, notices their contributions, and takes pride in their accomplishments. In fact, employers would do well to enact these strategies universally for all staff consistently in the interest of retention and employee satisfaction.
Conclusions Abound
Many conclusions can be made from the data available from the ongoing series of AONL longitudinal studies. As AONL concludes, there is a “nuanced landscape for nurse leaders, tracking shifts in their challenges and perceptions since July 2020”, with a focus on well-being, retention, financial resources, and workplace violence.
This study demonstrates the need for interdisciplinary collaboration, innovative solutions, and consistently addressing challenges of staffing and retention. And while cookie-cutter solutions can sometimes be helpful, progressive and forward-thinking healthcare organizations would be prudent to create tailor-made solutions based on their challenges on the ground.
The researchers’ conclusions say a great deal regarding what lies ahead:
In conclusion, while certain issues have shown improvement over the course of this survey series beginning during the pandemic in July 2020, nurse leaders continue to face complex challenges. Addressing work-life balance, navigating staffing shortages and innovating models of care remain pivotal. This requires a blend of strategic interventions, policy support and inclusive organizational cultures to strengthen nursing’s future and, ultimately, improve the equitable delivery of quality patient care.
Springer Publishing launched a new monthly health care podcast series, Conversations About Health Care Delivery in the United States, featuring discussions with prominent experts, innovators, and leaders in the health sector available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music starting on March 7.
The podcast series is hosted by Jim Knickman, the former Robert Derzon Chair at the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and Brian Elbel, MPH, Professor of Population Health and Health Policy at NYU Wagner and the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. The series dives into complex and challenging issues affecting the U.S. health care system, its workforce, and the populations interacting with it, covering topics like health management, public health, health behavior, population health, healthcare quality, and health economics.
Knickman and Elbel engage with guests who are leaders in the health sector, from aging services to health policy, to learn more about the key drivers shaping the health care system, challenges and complexities related to health inequities, and the exciting career opportunities available to future health care professionals and leaders.
The podcast series is a companion to the 13th edition of Jonas and Kovner’s Health Care Delivery in the United States, as each episode has ties to essential concepts, challenges, complexities, and themes in the textbook.
Podcast Episode
How the U.S. Health Care Systems is Preparing for the Demographic Cliff features Ramsey Alwin, President and CEO of the National Council on Aging, and Kathleen Cameron, Senior Director of the National Council on Aging’s Center for Healthy Aging.
The episode offers an in-depth discussion about the demographic shift, how the roles of families and social systems have evolved, federal and state-level programs for seniors, social isolation and inequities in the aging population, healthy aging, and exciting career opportunities in aging services.
The podcast series also features a supplemental instructor guide for anyone using the textbook that provides learning activities, discussion questions, and other guidance to engage with each episode, delivering practical and engaging content to learners and professionals in the health care space.
Gabrielle “Gibby” Ryan, RN, BSN, CCRN, has worked as a staff nurse in the Cardiac Care Unit at Children’s Nebraska Criss Heart Center for nearly five years. As a lifelong patient of the center herself, Ryan brings a unique perspective to her work every day, with a deep understanding of the challenges and experiences heart families may face.
Ryan was born with Tetralogy of Fallot, a complex congenital heart defect, and underwent her first surgical repair at 10 months old, followed by a second at 13 years old. Ryan continues to be a patient of Children’s Nebraska Criss Heart Center through its Adult Congenital Heart Disease program, under the care of cardiologist Angela Yetman, M.D.
While completing nursing school alongside her twin sister, Lexie, at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s College of Nursing, Ryan reconnected with her childhood surgeon, Kim Duncan, M.D. He suggested that she apply for a nursing position at Children’s Nebraska’s Criss Heart Center, which was expanding its cardiac care team in anticipation of the opening of the Hubbard Center for Children in 2021.
Both sisters were hired and started at the hospital within three months of each other, with Ryan beginning in June 2019, and her sister in September 2019. They both still serve in the same unit together.
Ryan cites her parents’ experience many years ago as the inspiration behind her caring approach to the patient families she serves today.
“I know it’s hard for families to trust someone they don’t know,” she says. “I try to keep that in mind when caring for a sick child and their family. Our unit at Children’s is really great, and it’s an honor to have families trust us.”
Nominate a Nurse of the Week! Every Wednesday, DailyNurse.com features a nurse making a difference in the lives of their patients, students, and colleagues. We encourage you to nominate a nurse who has impacted your life as the next Nurse of the Week, and we’ll feature them online and in our weekly newsletter.