Had a wonderful day celebrating Nurses’ Day with these beautiful souls. Thank you for celebrating us and with us!
– J
Category: NURSING
From VIP Unit to LTVU
My journey; How I deal with my stress, and the Importance of Debriefing after a death of a patient.
At the end of every hectic shift, I often find myself feeling ineffective and inadequate. Made me feel not fulfilled and after 10 years, questioned myself if Nursing really is for me.
I used to care for VIP patients with a ratio of 1:1. It is safe to say that I deliver what is expected of me in a timely basis, I feel effective, from doing the usual bedside duties, carrying out orders, doing extra for the station and nursing department. Then here I am in LTVU handling 3 patients 95% of the time. Exhaustion is given, every day is not always planned and the margin for errors is so small.
I learn in LTVU so much and I’m grateful for those unplanned days. I certainly do not know everything and forget to do certain things, but I am honest about it and I always ask when I’m in doubt. My confidence was slowly being built and I thought it’s a good thing to always have things to work on.
Growth comes in different ways after all. We always have a choice and strength that we never would have realized if we were not tested and did not experience the things we never did before. What a difference a five-month can make.
Stress will always be there and Nurse Burnout has soared during this pandemic. It is not surprising then that somedays are just way too difficult to handle physically or mentally. And keeping a positive spirit all day long is just the only way it should be. Honestly, that is a hope – not a guarantee.
I, like many others, deal stress differently. For me, The Phoenix becomes my Way to Decompress, an outlet to express the other side of myself. Having coffee out with friends, someone to vent out about your horrible day, over-sleeping, and Netflix. THEY. HELPED.
Our lives as nurses seem to revolve around give – give – give and leaves us nothing for ourselves. Let’s be kind to ourselves and stop doing it. We can’t give anything we don’t have since Covid-19 has stretched our coping abilities so thinly. With this extra work stress, codes and deaths along with being masked all day, often puts us into emotional overdrive – which is all fathomable. Debriefing is important to regain emotional equilibrium. I just hope we can do more of this in the future and might be a good idea to have it actually built into a system or a program.
NURSING IS A WORK OF HEART
Being a nurse takes a lot out of you. Our genuine love to help others, serve others, care for others, and help their day a little better is what makes us happy doing what we are doing. There so much that we do for our patients, for our co-workers, and for our family. It takes incredibly hard work, long hours, compassion, love, empathy, brain, and skills, and honestly, we don’t get thank enough, we know that.
Nonetheless, take a step back and think of all the lives you have able to touch and made a difference in. The smile you have put into someone’s face. The wisdom you learned listening to their stories. The tears you shed when you have been touched by others’ story of healing and devastations or the cycle of healing and devastations. The things you learned when you are surrounded by challenges. The support and friendship you found from the people who shared your passion. The preceptors and leaders who shaped and influenced you to be the best of a nurse that you can be.
It is a week to celebrate you, to celebrate us, and the fellow nurses in our lives. Let’s take it in because once it’s over we have to wait a whole year. Grab a coffee, close your eyes, and give yourself a little pat on the back. You are as amazing as the care and teamwork that you embody. Thank you for all that you do!
Happy Nurse’s Week, fellow Nurses!
Love,
Jinky xx
FIVE EXERCISES FOR BACK PAIN
There are simple and doable exercises that can help ease back pain as much as Natural Ways like meditation and massages can do. The following exercises can also help with mobility, muscle stretching, and strengthening.
Cat-Camel
- kneel on hand and knees
- slowly arch your back up towards the ceiling while lowering your neck
- hold when you feel stretch in mid and lower back
- perform the reverse
- extend your neck upwards while lowering your spine
Knee-to-Chest
- lie on your back with your knees bent and feet resting on the floor
- with your hands, pull one knee to your chest, then the other knee until you feel a gentle stretch in the lower back
- hold both knees for 20 counts, and then put one leg down at a time
Bridging
- lie on your back with knees bent feet on the floor
- tighten your abdominal muscles to keep your back in a neutral position
- use your buttock muscles to slowly rise off the surface without bending your lower back
- relax your shoulders and neck as you hold
- make sure to keep your breathing even
Piriformis
- cross your leg over the other
- pull the bottom leg toward you
- repeat on opposite side
Bird Dog
- starting position with hands and knees on the floor
- tighten your stomach muscles
- extend the right leg while lifting left arm
- reverse position and repeat
Back pain can be caused by aging, disease, injury or stress. Exercises can help tremendously in preventing not only back pain but other health issues as well as restoring our overall well-being.
Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day or night!
Love,
Jinky xx
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