Work Stress
Author: Claire Adams
10/10/17
We all feel stressed and out of control at work from time to time. Here are a few tips on how to cope when the workload feels too much!
Prioritise your patients and manage your time
It’s busy and there are lots of patients. You know that the catheter placement in bay 3 is going to take 15 minutes but you also need to hang that IV! Think about what needs to be done first.
Delegate
You have 6 IV’s to make and hang.… Oh and there are oral meds to give to the other patient….. That patient in the corridor doesn’t look very well, and you need to clean that bay to bring in the next patient. This comes back to prioritising your care but is there something that your colleagues can help to do? Maybe the clinical support can focus on cleaning the bay and bringing in the next patient, and say to the Nurse in Charge that the patient in the corridor doesn’t look very well.
Focus
It’s ok to say “I’m really busy, can you give me a minute?” and focus on the task at hand. There are times that 5 different people are asking you questions. Write a list or lay out the tasks in order, but if you are feeling overwhelmed sometimes it’s good to just give yourself a minute to regroup your thoughts.
Take Breaks
Take your break! If you are stressed, tired and hungry you are more likely to make mistakes and get frustrated, and you’ll come back refreshed and ready to take on the world!
Communicate
Are you are feeling frazzled and stressed? Not coping? Let the NIC know. Do you have someone on shift you can talk to? All new starts have an allocated mentor, so maybe drop them an email to arrange a chat, or when you see them next on shift speak to them.
Relax and Breathe
Inside and outside of work. When it’s getting busy, having a small team huddle now and again can sometimes help to figure out what actually needs to be done, and you can all take on the tasks together.
Enjoy your time off
Once you finish work, breathe, relax, it’s done for another day. Go home, put your feet up and make sure you have things planned for your days off that you enjoy. It’s good to have a hobby outside of work that you can focus on.