Mental health for nurses
2020 has been a difficult year for health professionals. COVID has undoubtedly hit those propping up the public health system most hard - hey to all my nurses and doctors out there!
There’s lots being written about the mental health struggles faced by these workers at the moment, and rightly so. However, I’ve been thinking about the particular issues commonly faced by nurses, specifically, for quite some time. The reasons for this are two-fold: 1) I have noticed in my work many young nurses in particular experiencing stress and anxiety related to their job; and 2) I have a few nurses that are pretty important in my personal life!
There is plenty of good quality research going on into the mental health of nurses. Here, I’m just going to stick with my own anecdotal observations. A few commonalities I notice are in nurses’ experiences are listed below - as well as some ideas on what to do to manage them.
The stress, sadness, and frustration associated with the job itself
No matter what ward you’re on, nursing is an extremely emotionally and interpersonally intensive role. Nurses get the pay-off of having the really enriching experience of making a real difference in peoples’ lives, but the price paid for that is also carrying people through some of the most painful and traumatic moments they’ll have to deal with. On top of this, the health system doesn’t have unlimited funding, which means that resources frequently are strained and tempers fray.
There’s not much here that can be changed - at least, not at the individual level. But I do think many nurses skim over the draining nature of their work. Simply acknowledging to yourself (and close others) that your work takes a toll is so important, and goes a bit of the way towards managing the stress. Other ways to manage this are: good self-care; debriefing with colleagues and managers (too rare - I know!); and regularly scheduled holidays.
Excessive expectations of oneself as a nurse
Like many health professions, nursing attracts many people with personality traits including perfectionism and high orientation to others (i.e., those who love to help others!). You do need to be highly driven to get through the training and ongoing professional development required of a nurse, and it sure helps to be a natural carer as well! However, for some people, particularly whilst still early-career nurses, these traits can snowball into high levels of anxiety. Many nurses I’ve worked with note a pattern of ruminating after work (going over and over things), over-thinking decisions made, and beating themselves up when patient care doesn’t go exactly as hoped.
It’s a tricky balance to strike: many of the best nurses are highly self-reflective, and strive to learn from each experience to become more competent for the next time a similar case arises. But whilst it’s normal to care about your job, it’s not okay for work to constantly bleed into the rest of your life, or for you to feel sick every time you leave for work or arrive home. It’s important to seek support from colleagues both at your level and those more senior to get reassurance about your work if you need it, as well as to work on developing greater self-compassion and acceptance of the uncertainty inherent in this work.
Health or death anxiety
Anxiety around possible health issues or preoccupation with mortality is another issue some nurses present with. Not only do some nurses find themselves making more and more GP appointments over time, some who deal with a lot of death might also find themselves frequently stuck in a bit of an existential crisis - questioning their life choices, or the very meaning of life itself. This makes a lot of sense to me; most of us are able to go about our lives blissfully unaware that death could be just around the corner, whilst nurses deal with the sick and dying - of every age, including their own - everyday.
This one is a pretty big-picture type of anxiety, and not one that can be easily dismissed. I think it’s important to make sure you have a strong support network around you, both in personal and professional relationships, in which you feel comfortable to talk about some of these thoughts. Although there’s no fixing these worries, getting them out and allowing yourself space to process some of the stuff you’re dealing with will enable you some release and to make sense of things.
Not being a nurse myself, I’m sure this list of themes is nowhere near complete. However, if any of these worries apply to you, know that you’re not alone, and that there’s things you can do and people you can speak to to help you feel a bit better as you cope with this difficult, but demanding, career.