Tips For Nurses To Score A Healthy Balance
Some tips for nurses include investing in self-care, asking for help, cultivating a positive work culture, maintaining a realistic schedule, and more.
Nursing happens to be one of the most attractive professions in the medical field. Most of it is because there is an increasing demand for nurses because of the pandemic and aging population.
As people grow older, managing their health and lifestyle demands more nurses in the industry.
Consequently, the high demand and responsibilities of the nurse make the job highly stressful.
Sometimes, they have to work long hours, resulting in fatigue and burnout. This condition can lead to more anxiety, shortness of temper, and deteriorating personal health.
Moreover, it can also affect their competencies, resulting in potentially fatal mistakes.
If nurses want to save themselves from such dire consequences of long shifts and stressful work, they must achieve a healthy work-life-study balance. Doing so will enable them to optimize their performance at work and maintain a happy personal life simultaneously.
Otherwise, their job will only be a long string of burnouts, leading to job dissatisfaction and eventual dropout. Below are some helpful tips for nurses to strike this crucial balance.
Tips For Nurses For A Healthy Work-Life-Study Balance
Follow these tips for nurses if you want to maintain a healthy balance between work and life:
1. Set Your Priorities
It may seem complicated to juggle all responsibilities without disappointing anyone or affecting your routine.
Therefore, it is vital to set your priorities straight, especially if you are pursuing higher education. If you are, then opt for online programs and create a flexible learning schedule to save time.
Many nurses opt for online post master’s certificate nurse practitioner programs to progress their careers. They often find it easier to manage seeing patients, taking care of the home, and studying.
Similarly, prioritize professional and personal responsibilities too. You must make up your mind to let go of anything that deters you from your goals in life.
While this may seem hard, it is though essential for your success in life.
2. Invest In Self-Care
It can be challenging for nurses to find time to sleep between long work hours, education, and personal responsibilities.
However, an average adult needs seven to nine hours of proper sleep, and missing out on these hours can harm their health.
Therefore, nurses must set out a strict routine that gives them enough hours to rest and complete their responsibilities. If possible, try to divide your duties with another family member.
Apart from proper rest, they need healthy nutrition to maintain their health.
Often nurses miss out on lunch hours because of their work responsibilities and don’t eat. But it can affect their health by causing malnutrition. As a result, they can tire out quickly without the energy to keep them upright during work.
In addition to that, exercise is necessary for nurses to manage stress and keep themselves active.
3. Ask For Help
It is natural to get overwhelmed with enormous responsibilities on your shoulder. But you don’t have to keep feeling that way, especially when you have options.
Instead of trying to take the one-person army approach, seek assistance in work and personal life so that you can manage your responsibilities without overwhelming yourself and harming your health.
For example, if too many patients are under your care, request the nurse manager to divide your responsibilities and lessen your burden.
Similarly, divide your responsibilities with family so that you can manage all the work quickly, leaving you time to rest as well.
4. Cultivate Positive Work Relations
Another factor that contributes to stress is an unpleasant working environment. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain positive associations with your superiors and coworkers to have a positive and healthy work experience.
Apart from that, having positive relations helps manage work pressure, as you can ask for assistance.
5. Maintain A Realistic Schedule
Nursing is a challenging but gratifying profession. Therefore, if you want to continue working as a nurse and progress in your career, you have to make some changes in your life.
For starters, you will have to make a schedule and stick with it. You cannot afford to just wing-by your life and work and tackle situations as they come. It only adds to stress and causes an eventual burnout.
But if you manage a routine, you will curb your anxiety and train your mind to handle work and personal responsibilities without overburdening yourself.
Besides, making a schedule will save you a lot of time, leaving you time to rest or spend with family.
Don’t forget to say NO when someone expects you to work beyond your schedule.
However, you have to ensure that you make a realistic schedule for your whole day. Having an unrealistic plan can lead to stress and burnout if you are not dividing your time correctly.
You must remember that you are only human, so give yourself some time to rest and divide responsibilities smartly.
6. Simplify Your Life
Sometimes it feels like there are always some extra steps in life that you are too tired to take.
For example, running around to keep a check on every patient can tire you out quickly, leaving you with little energy for your actual responsibilities.
At home, it may take too long to work, consuming a lot of time manually. But if you turn towards technology, it can cut down those redundant steps and simplify your life.
For example, you can use applications to monitor the patient’s condition from your desk while completing other tasks.
You can use technology such as automatic vacuums and other home appliances to cut down work time at home.
This will help you reduce stress and manage your responsibilities easily.
Conclusion
Maintaining a work-life balance is essential in every profession, but it is more important in nursing. Stress, fatigue, and burnout can have fatal consequences on the job.
Therefore, nurses must work on striking a healthy balance between personal and professional responsibilities.
Some tips they can employ include prioritizing goals and commitments, investing in self-care, asking for help whenever needed, cultivating a positive work culture, maintaining a realistic schedule, and using technology to simplify their lives.
By adhering to these tips, nurses can avoid burnout and maintain a healthy, balanced lifestyle.
