How to Cope with Stress That Comes with Medical Nurse Jobs?

Increasing workloads, overwhelming shifts, and demanding environments take their toll on the nurses.

NHS or National Health Service has stated that stress at work is leading to the adverse impact of care standards.

The latest staff survey shows that stress led to more than 30% of sickness leaves in the NHS framework-based centres.

Nearly 38 per cent of staff at NHS has cited work-related stress as a reason for affecting their physical and emotional wellbeing.



How Can You Define Stress in a Nursing Job?

Before looking for medical agency nurse jobs, you need to assess the amount of pressure you can handle to avoid the adverse effects of stress.

Stress is an adverse condition where people react differently to emotional pressures and other job-related demands. Every person reacts differently to stress.

Stress can occur suddenly or take its time to surface. Many factors lead to this reaction, most of them being external.

It may be dealing with violent patients, undergoing traumatic circumstances, or lack of communications from a medical director. Whatever is the reason for stress, you have to manage the feelings to work as a nurse.

What is the Impact of Stress on Your Life?

While nursing is an extremely fulfilling and rewarding medical career, it comes with demanding choices as well.

You have to deal with changing environments and unpredictable behaviours of patients in day-to-day working.

This results in emotional, physical, and mental reactions to stress. The impact of stress on your life may include:

• Physical reactions like grinding teeth, biting the nails, pains, increasing heart rate or clenching the jaws.
• Emotional and mental reactions include lack of self-confidence, lack of concentration, and irritability.

How Can You Deal with Work-Related Stress?

Almost every nursing speciality brings some amount of pressure and stress to your life. Here, it’s essential to know how you can cope with these conditions.

Start with lifestyle changes and change your entire mindset to deal with physical or mental trauma that comes with stressful conditions. Here’s what you can do to fight stress responses and do a better job:



1.) Talk About Your Stress

Being a nurse, you have a tight schedule that includes finishing a shift and zoning out once you get back home.

But, stress stays at the back of your mind and causes consistent discomfort.

So, it’s better to get it out of your system by talking about the stress. You can discuss your problems with friends, co-workers, or family.

2.) Change Your Lifestyle for Better

If you want to get rid of stress that often accompanies medical agency nurse jobs, find a perfect work-life balance.

Use your free time to relax your mind and body. Have an organised lifestyle at work. Keep a checklist of jobs need to be done on priority so you won’t miss any important timeline.

Try using your relaxation time for doing things you enjoy, whether it’s watching a movie, listening to podcasts or going out. Finding a hobby can also help to feel good and less stressed after a harried day at work.

3.) Try Deep Breathing

If you suffer from work-related stress, deep breathing can help to ease your pain points. As per a report from stress.org, the process of breathing deeply can circulate oxygen to the brain.

This, in turn, stimulates the parasympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system for reducing the stress.

The best part is you can do deep breathing even in the midst of work chaos. You can also try meditation or yoga that focuses on deep breathing patterns for stress relief.

4.) Pamper Yourself

While at work, nurses spend a lot of time on their feet. They also need to carry their patients from one department to another throughout the day.

All these physical activities need strength. Hence, you should keep your body fit with physical workouts and healthy eating to avoid any signs of physical stress.

After a 12-hour shift, exercise may seem to be difficult. But, it can be an excellent stress reducer that boosts endorphins and reduces cortisol in your body. So, try to find some time for light exercises at a fitness centre or take stairs during the work breaks.



5.) Maintain Emotional Stability

Let’s admit the fact that nursing is a stressful job. You must maintain your emotional stability in order to make rational decisions at work.

Regulate the basic factors like empathy, self-motivation, self-awareness, and social skills to control your behaviours and manage the stress.

If you can control these factors, it helps to analyse the conditions around you. Always try to invest your energy on the stuff that demands more attention instead of wasting efforts on smaller issues.

6.) Move Toward Positive Thinking

A positive outlook can change a lot of things for a nursing professional. You should always consider the good aspects of your job and neglect negativities that bog you down.

Share jokes and friendly conversations with your co-workers and patients. Also, read the stuff that keeps reminding you about the good things related to your profession.

These are some effective ways of reducing stress through preventive and restorative lifestyle changes.