Like most working professionals who operate under high-pressure situations, nurses don’t always think of their own health needs.
Tuesday, about a thousand nurses gathered to hear keynote speaker, Ginny Beeson speak on the importance of self-care in the nursing field. Beeson, who is a retired nurse and U.S. Navy Captain says the difficulty in the profession is causing a shortage of nurses around the country.
“A lot of nurses are leaving the bedside today around the country because the work is so very very difficult and it hard, and it’s not what they thought it was going to be,” said Beeson.
Nurses experience patients, but also patient families, and when working closely with patients that don’t have good outcomes those emotions tend to stick with them. As a registered nurse, Emily Schad shared that the emotional toll the job takes is one of her main adversities.
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“Sometimes you get to celebrate with your patient that they got great news, and then you step into the next room and it’s a patient who just kind of got news that we’re at the end of the line. and you have to be able to shift emotions quickly and be there and support your patients,” said Schad.
Because of that constant emotional shift, Emily says that nurses lose sight of themselves.
“I think nurses are so good at taking care of other people, but sometimes we forget about ourselves and our coworkers a little bit,” said Schad.
Beeson recommends that nurses make a friend “best friend” that offers them a chance to vent about the things that they are experiencing. She also says helping each other out can make a big difference.
“Practice incredible teamwork, and to work together and support each other and help each other because the work we’re doing on patients is very very hard, and I believe that nurses take incredibly fabulous care of patients, and I want us to take that kind of incredibly fabulous care of each other because the work is so demanding,” said Beeson.
Date: May 17, 2019
Source: abc6News