One way that I have found to be relaxing and help with relieving stress is meditation. As Raingruber and Robinson (2007) note in their study stress that is associated with working long, varied shifts, and taking care of extremely complex patients can lead to turnover. Frequent turnover and demanding workloads are things noted to diminish the quality of our work environments. As Brathovde (2006) notes, nurses do not practice regular self-care and take care of themselves. Meditation is a good, easy and economical way we can do this. In the study by Raingruber and Robinson (2007), practicing meditation decreases burnout and stress related health problems. Meditation also helps you sleep better, have increased problem solving skills, feel more refreshed and cope with the hectic work environment. Do you use some form of meditation? If so what has been your experience since doing meditation? How exactly do you do your meditation?
Brathovde, A. (2006). A pilot study: Reiki for self-care of nurses and healthcare providers. Holistic Nursing Practice, 20(2), 95-1102
Raingruber, B., & Robinson, C. (2007). The effectiveness of Tai chi, Yoga, meditation, and Reiki healing sessions in promoting health and enhancing problem solving abilities of registered nurses. Issues in Mental Health, 28, 1141-1155. doi: 10.1080/01612840701581255
I have just started meditation. My spouse has done for years and swears by it as a stress reducer. I am just sitting quietly with a fountain running as a white noise item. I have to admit that I have not mastered it as of yet. My mind stays too active. But am working on it.
ReplyDeleteKeep at it. I am much like you and have a hard time turning my mind off and hope to become better at meditation myself. Best of luck!
DeletePenny
Very timely blog for an ongoing issue. Nurses need to practice self-care in order to reduce stress and improve their interactions with patients. I believe that self-care makes me a better nurse manager and I require my staff to have self-care goals for their annual evaluations. I will also let them know to look for blogs to help them find ways to heal themselves mentally and physically.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea to have self-care goals. I need to try to do that because as you know nurses do not take good care of themselves. Keep up the great work of being a leader for them I bet they appreciate it.
DeletePenny
Carol,
DeleteLove your idea about requiring staff to have self-care goals. I will have to share this with my co-workers. Thanks for the idea!
My mother always told me to imagine myself as a lemonade pitcher and to take time to fill my own needs (pitcher). If I didn't "refill" myself, I would have nothing left to give to others. This is true as a nurse, too. I don't practice formal meditation, but I do take many focused deep breathing moments during the day to recollect myself. It is quick, cheap, and helps me relax and keep moving forward.
ReplyDeleteI envision all the nurses out there that barely have a splash of lemonaid left in their pitcher. We have had many health issues with our nurses this year. The hospital complains that there is lots of FMLA, but people are being worked at a very difficult pace. They have taken away all of our sick days. We have ZERO. I cannot imagine they would support self care, but they would certainly benefit from it. Maybe if they could see how low our lemonaid levels are they would understand the need.
DeleteCheri,
DeleteThat is tough about the sick days. We don't get sick days either but they did increase our PTO accrual to have some compensation there. Our organization has also had some serious medication issues with staff over the last year or so. Sometimes I wonder if leaders see the connection between work levels and health issues. I've heard it said that the workforce is just aging. As this may be true I don't think you can contribute everything to that. Thanks for sharing.
Penny
Your mother gave you an invaluable analogy. I had never heard it that way but it is oh so true. Breathing exercise are great ways to help reduce stress too. Sometimes that is all you have time and I am glad that you do those things at least.
ReplyDeletePenny
Nurses are always the best advocates for our patients. Here is a blog to advocate for nurses. Excellent idea and a great way to positively make a difference.
ReplyDelete