This is an excerpt from my eBook The Beginner’s Guide to Nursing: What They Didn’t Tell You In Nursing School
HiYa Newbie Nurses! I know I’m not your mom, but read this post as if I were! Your mother will thank me.
As nurses, we ask our patients about their last bowel movements all. the. time. But now I’m asking you because self-care is not an option for nurses.
Even if no one ever told you that you should come first in your life and in your career, you’re hearing it now.
You should come first in your life.
Before your patients.
Before your kids.
Before your family.
If you do not take care of you, there will be nothing left to give to others.
KNOW this: the first year of nursing is the toughest. It is said that up to 90% of what you do on the job after graduation was not learned while in nursing school. I’m not convinced the learning curve is that high, but there is a lot of on-the-job training required.
Nursing is a complex profession. It takes time to develop good clinical judgment and quality time management. It takes time to learn how to recognize when a patient needs immediate intervention.
These are challenging things to discover and it takes experience to learn them. You will start putting the pieces together. It will happen, but it’s not easy and it takes time.
Here’s how to care for the inside and outside of you throughout this process of learning.
The Inside of You
Be flexible. There are certain things like drug dosages and turning schedules that should never be flexible, but when it comes to the ability to cover for a lunch break or learn about the new charting update, flexibility empowers you to meet the demands of an ever-changing work environment.
Find a mentor. Guidance is not just the old nurses telling the young nurses how it was in the olden days. A true mentorship encourages, inspires, motivates, and supports. As a matter of fact, it can be a two-way street. Often the mentor and mentee discover they’re both achieving their life’s goals and aspirations.
Learn to say no. As a newbie nurse, you’ll want to say yes to everything. You want to see it all and experience it all. You want to make a great impression on your coworkers. But knowing your limits and having boundaries is crucial. You don’t want to get burned out this early in the game.
Choose your experiences wisely. Pace yourself. There’s nothing wrong with a simple “no thank you” or “perhaps later” when your circumstances require it.
Set goals. You didn’t come this far to leave your career to chance. As you advance through school and land your first nursing job, you may still be wondering what your specialty passion is or how to find that work-life balance (is that really a thing?).
The short- and long-term goals you set should be SMART: make sure they are SPECIFIC, MEASURABLE, ATTAINABLE, REALISTIC, and TIMELY. It’s important to reassess your goals at least every 6 to 12 months.
Avoid complaining. There’s a big difference between complaining and voicing a concern. Here’s how to avoid complaining.
- Identify the problem (or what’s making you uncomfortable)
- Brainstorm until you have a solution
- THEN verbalize the problem to the right people with the intent to bring about change
Complainers will grumble about everything, but your approach should not be about fault-finding. Once you are certain that your concern is legitimate and deserves to be addressed, you can feel confident in sharing it with the right people.
Besides, you will have solutions to resolve the problem and this will show that you’re innovative.
Be assertive. Learn to listen to your inner voice. People with healthy self-esteem are more likely to speak out—with respect—against whatever brings them dismay.
Speaking up is a method of asserting that they care about the situation; it is not an attack. Speaking up isn’t about proving anything or showing off what you know. It is about being true to yourself while respecting those around you.
Don’t be so hard on yourself. You are human. You are a nurse. You will make mistakes. You will make nursing errors. We’ve all made nursing errors.
The first lesson you should learn from your nursing error is to give yourself some grace. The second lesson is responsibility.
You report it, you do all you can do to immediately correct it. You analyze the situation and you learn from your mistake.
Then you show yourself the same compassion you would show your best friend. You avoid self-criticism and punishing yourself with negativity.
You must realize that a mistake doesn’t make you a bad nurse. And a bad shift doesn’t make you a bad nurse either.
Take bathroom breaks. It really is not cool to hold your pee until you can’t stand it another second. You know you’re setting yourself up for ureter backflow issues, bladder stretching, and infections. Just find someone to watch your patients and go already.
While you’re at it when was your last bowel movement?
The Outside of You
Sleep. Studies show there have been NO positive effects noted from sleep restriction. This should be obvious, but you’re a nurse (or you’re going to be a nurse), so you need a kick in the bottom to go along with your cold, hard facts.
Nearly one-fifth of night shift nurses report struggling to stay awake while caring for their patients. Rotating shift work increases the number of struggling nurses trying to stay awake on their shifts.
Even though insufficient sleep affects each person differently, the fact remains that it does affect everyone. So, don’t skimp on sleep.
It’s often the first thing to go when we have to give up something to make room for other things, but that is not what’s best for you. Value and guard your sleep time as best you can.
Invest in quality footwear. Most nurses don’t have to be convinced of this one. It only takes one 12-hour shift in uncomfortable shoes and your barking, throbbing feet, ankles, and calves have you opening your Amazon app.
But which quality shoe should you invest in? Just google best shoes for nurses; there are a million reviews out there. I just want you to do it before you develop fat pad atrophy. Yes, it’s a thing.
Eat healthy. Your body cannot perform the way you want it to without the proper nutrition. Even though people do it all the time, you can’t eat junk food and expect not to feel tired and listless. At home and at work, do yourself a favor and make at least 80% of every meal fruits and vegetables.
The most important thing eating healthy will do for nurses is help reduce the impact of stressors on the body. Health can be optimized through diet. Live it so your patients can witness it and so you’ll be around longer for your family.
Pack your lunch. Eating healthy brings us full circle to—pack your own lunch for work. Especially if you work nights. The cafeteria has very limited options after 10 pm. Working at night will most likely limit your mealtime options, forcing you to skip meals or snacks or opt for less-than-nutritious food options.
If you bring your own lunch, you have control over your food choices and the timing of your meals.
Exercise. I know, you hear this one all the time, but it is critical. Everyone needs physical activity to promote physical health. As nurses, exercise can improve our psychological and emotional health. The challenge for nurses is incorporating the daily habit of exercise into our everyday lifestyle.
What’s keeping you from forming a daily exercise habit? Identify the beast and conquer it.
Get a good stethoscope. There are many brands and styles of stethoscopes, but personal preference should play only a small role. A quality stethoscope will perform well and last for years if you take care of it. It should be light enough to carry around and easy on the ears for extended use.
Find a quality stethoscope, then put your name on it. After that put your name on your favorite pens too.
Don’t burn out early by having caffeine too early during night shift. Nursing is a busy, stressful, and exhausting job. Most of us have reached for the caffeine at some point to get through the chaos. Unfortunately, caffeine doesn’t give you energy, it just blocks you from feeling tired.
Caffeine also inhibits the absorption of iron, magnesium, and Vitamin D, leaving your immune system stressed and your energy lagging. Overuse can set you up for adrenal fatigue. However, caffeine has some benefits too, like increased alertness. Coffee is known to have antioxidant effects. So, give some thought to your caffeine consumption and try to find the right balance for your body.
Wear compression stockings. To avoid your legs feeling heavy, itchy, tired, and painful, wear compression socks to work. Pair them with quality footwear and you’re golden until retirement. Regardless of age, when you’re on your feet for hours, compression socks are a must. And while you’re at it, do not cross your legs during that two-minute break you get.
Taking care of the inside and the outside of you is important, especially if you’re a nurse. I encourage you to stop putting yourself last and take care of the one person your patients, your spouse, your kids and your parents love so so so much: YOU!
Be safe and healthy now and always.
Cheers!
