Stress Reduction and Management Techniques

Why Is Healthcare So Stressful?

Healthcare facilities are very busy places. Things are always changing. The needs of clients, client’s families, staff, and the organization itself do not always connect. Sometimes there is not enough staff to go around. It can be hard to get everything done and done right. There is always new technology to learn and use. This can all be very frustrating. Healthcare is so stressful that many people feel job burnout. Job burnout is when an employee feels as though work is just too stressful to continue on where they are working. The employee may feel as though quitting is the only choice. Work-related stress may be physical, mental, or both. Burnout is a common problem in helping professions such as healthcare. It does not have to happen to you, though. By being aware of the problem and the risk factors involved, and using the stress-reducing tips here, you can arm yourself against job burnout.

There are some risk factors for job burnout.

• Choosing the wrong career path. ​Healthcare is not a good fit for everyone. Some people enter healthcare because they believe it will be easy to find a job. For healthcare to be a good fit, you must enjoy working with people. You need to be a kind, compassionate person. You must be emotionally stable. You need to multitask. You must also be willing to learn and use new technology.
• Choosing the wrong place of employment. ​If you know you like to work with people one on one without interruptions, home healthcare would probably be a good fit for you. If you know you like to stay busy, then long-term care would be a good fit. Think about what settings in healthcare might suit your unique personality and interests.
• An imbalance of work and home life. ​If you are not able to leave your job at work and leave your private life at home, then you are at high risk for burnout. You will need to learn how to walk away at the end of your shift and transition back to your home life. This does not mean that you care less about your clients. It means that you can keep a healthy balance between work and home responsibilities. Working too much can make you feel burned out.
• Conflicts with coworkers. ​Remember therapeutic communication? It is important to communicate well with your clients and your coworkers. Conflict increases your risk for job burnout. Try to prevent conflict with these techniques, or resolve conflict before it spirals out of control.

Now that you know what can cause job burnout, you need to know what it looks like. The more stress we have, the more it affects us. Early on, the signs may not be obvious. The longer it continues, the more your body will shout, “We have a problem!”

Signs and symptoms of burnout:

• Irritability
• Anxiety
• Fatigue
• Large weight gains or losses
• Sleep problems
• Drug and/or alcohol used to self-medicate
• Difficulty connecting with others
• Difficulty transitioning from work to home, or vice versa
• Physical ailments and pain
• Mental fog or fatigue

Ways to Prevent Stress From Taking Charge

There are ways to prevent stress from turning into burnout. You should enjoy your job and should not look at it as just a paycheck. You should not dread going to work. Consider this list to try to prevent burnout.

• Try to remember why you chose to go into healthcare in the first place. ​Why did you decide on this particular job? What were the things about the job that were good and made you happy?
• Have clear goals. ​What do you want to accomplish by working? Do you want to focus in on the caregiving aspects of the job? Are you more interested in gaining experience and pursuing more education to move up the ladder? Set your goals, and then work toward them. This will help you feel more in control.
• Find a mentor. ​If there is a person you can go to who understands the demands of your job and has experience in controlling the stress, talk to them. They can help you find coping mechanisms that work. It is also nice to have someone you can “vent” to.
• Talk to your supervisor about an employee assistance plan (EAP), which many employers offer. Talking about your stress may help you see a clear picture of the problem. You can get feedback on how to resolve the issues.

Time-Management Techniques to Reduce Stress While at Work

One of the major stressors cited in healthcare is that there is just not enough time to get the job done or done well. By managing your time effectively, you can reduce your stress and increase the quality and quantity of your work.

The first thing to do is make sure that you are refreshed and ready for work. Get a good night’s sleep. Set your alarm early enough so that you will not feel rushed getting ready. Eat a good meal before going to work. Lack of sleep, feeling overwhelmed, low blood sugar, and an empty stomach can all make you feel irritable and out of sorts.

Get to work on time. If you are rushed getting to work, you will feel as though you are always two steps behind. Leave your house early, so that you have plenty of time to make it to work, even if you run into unexpected traffic.

When you get to work, make a list of the most important tasks you need to do that day. Prioritize your tasks. When you complete those tasks, you will feel like you are making progress and accomplishing something.

Communicate with your coworkers. Make a plan with the other nursing assistants to deal with the workload. One aide may be great at ambulating and exercising clients, and another may enjoy helping clients get ready for meal time. If you can, divide the combined workload evenly to better manage everyone’s time. Client care assignments should remain as assigned unless approved by the nurse.

There is always a lot of work to do in healthcare. Even though you feel like you are being pulled in many directions, you need to perform your tasks correctly the first time. It may seem as though you do not have enough time to get everything done. However, a poor job will have to be redone, taking even more time going back to fix mistakes. It takes less time to do something right the first time.

Try not to skip your breaks. Breaks are necessary to reenergize. Take the opportunity to refuel with healthy food choices, take a walk, or use some of the relaxation techniques described here. You will return refreshed and much more likely to make good choices.

Preventing Stress and Promoting Job Satisfaction

To enjoy work and life you need to know what promotes job satisfaction. People who enjoy their jobs often enjoy their personal lives too. There are general guidelines that, if followed, will benefit you in your job and your personal life. These include practices to maintain overall health and well-being, relaxation-promoting exercises, and stress management. Once you have incorporated these practices into your life, you can adapt them to help ease the pain and stress of your clients.

Good General Health

If you maintain your health, you can better fight off stress. Good health is based on everyday choices. You can choose to get enough sleep, to eat nutritious food,  to exercise and to  to have healthy relationships. These choices contribute to good health. They can help those you care for too. Here is a closer look at some these choices.

• Getting enough sleep. ​Most adults need about 8 hours of sleep each night. If you don’t get enough sleep, you might feel more irritable. Your immune system may weaken. You may have memory problems.
• Choosing good foods to eat. ​Choosing whole foods is always better than choosing processed foods. Whole foods like raw fruits and vegetables will give you the vitamins and nutrients your body needs to stay healthy. They will also help you to keep a healthy body weight, which will relieve physical stress from your joints and muscles.
• Exercise. ​By exercising you can produce endorphins. Endorphins are your body’s natural “feel-good” hormone. This is why exercise helps to reduce depression and anxiety.
• Healthy relationships promote a healthy you. Healthy relationships help you stay emotionally strong. Working in healthcare can drain you emotionally. Healthy relationships at home may help ease the emotional strain at work.

Yoga

Yoga is a form of exercise that can help relieve stress and promote emotional health. It can help you keep a healthy weight and help you relax. Remember those endorphins? Yoga stimulates those too! Yoga can also strengthen your muscles and increase your flexibility. That can help prevent injuries at work. Anyone can practice yoga—young, old, large, small, physically fit, or exercised challenged—because each of the poses can be modified to fit a person’s flexibility and strength level. You can do it too! Look into yoga by reading a book or researching the topic on the Internet. Consider joining a beginner’s class in your community or using an app on your phone to get started.

Meditation

Meditation can reduce stress levels and high blood pressure. It can minimize pain, depression, and anxiety. Meditation is not difficult, but it does take practice. It can take very little time. You can meditate at home, on a break at work, or whenever you have a couple of minutes to yourself. The more you meditate, the more natural it will become.

The general point of meditation is to instill a sense of calm in yourself by quieting your thoughts. There are a variety of ways to do this. Some people murmur a word or phrase repeatedly; some people focus on their own breathing; some focus on a fixed point or object. Whichever method is most comfortable for you is the one you should practice. A quiet, calm environment is necessary. Turn off music and television. Limit contact with others. Make sure that you are in a comfortable position.

Once you are in a comfortable position, close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Notice what is happening inyour mind and start your meditation. You can choose to meditate on anything really, but below are a few suggestions to get you started.

Suggestions for Beginners to Focus Meditation

• Counting over and over; for example, from the number 1 to the number 5
• Repeating a word, such as “peace” or “calm”
• Repeating a phrase, such as “let it be” or “let go”
• Visualizing a favorite place; for example, the beach in late afternoon or a corner of the park in the summertime or the kitchen in the house where you grew up

When you start to meditate, you might have silly thoughts come to your mind—thoughts like, “what should I cook for supper?” or “my back itches; should I stop and scratch it?” When thoughts like these interrupt you, acknowledge them and then return to your meditation. These interrupting thoughts are normal, your mind’s job is to think. As you practice, you will become more aware of the thoughts as they occur and will be able to more easily let them pass you by.

When starting out, try to meditate for about 1 to 3 minutes at a time. As you become more accustomed to it, you may want to spend more time on your practice.

Pet Therapy

Many healthcare facilities have started to offer pet therapy to reduce stress and improve quality of life for clients. Pet therapy has been found to have positive effects on clients in all settings.

Benefits associated with pet therapy include a lift in mood, an increase in social interactions, and generalized relaxation. Physical benefits are also evident. Clients may have a reduction in blood pressure and heart rate. Clients often report a reduction in the amount of pain perceived, both physical and emotional. If the animal is one that can be petted, such as a cat or dog, range of motion provides the benefit of exercise while petting the animal.

Various types of pets may be used for therapy. Often hospitals and long-term care facilities have aviaries or fish tanks. Some facilities have a house dog or cat. The presence of the animal can promote a social community. Responsibilities such as feeding and grooming the pet may renew a sense of purpose in clients’ lives.

Humor

Everyone has heard the old saying that “laughter is the best medicine.” Physically speaking, this may be true. Laughter can help boost endorphins. Laughter can also increase heart rate, giving the cardiovascular system a boost. Better heart function and blood flow helps to repair damaged tissues. Laughing also promotes deep breathing, which can prevent respiratory complications. This means that laughing can prevent illness and help heal a person more quickly!

Emotionally speaking, laughter can decrease anxiety and depression. Sometimes it may mean closer social relationships. Think about it—if you can joke around with your clients and get them to laugh or smile, you are building that important caregiver relationship. A strong relationship can mean a more emotionally stable client. So, go ahead, make someone laugh today!

Journaling

Journaling is the process of writing down thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Some people do this on a regular basis. Some people journal only when they are dealing with a difficult time in life. There is no right or wrong way to journal. You may prefer to journal in a special notebook, or you may jot thoughts down on pieces of paper and store them in a special spot. You can keep those notebooks after filling them to reflect on past experiences and help you solve a current problem.

The benefits of journaling are twofold. First, you can vent. Sometimes in healthcare you may have had a bad day, but you cannot talk to anyone about it because of privacy laws. By journaling, you can get the bad day “off your chest” without breaking any privacy laws. The second benefit is the opportunity to problem solve. Rereading entries over time may reveal a pattern. Maybe you have a pattern of choices that continuously give you the same result—good or bad. Recognizing these patterns, you can change your behaviors and, hopefully, problem solve to make your life less stressful.

Visualization Techniques

Visualization is an effective way to reduce stress, ease anxiety, and diminish pain. Visualization is forming mental images. It can be an effective tool to help achieve goals in life. The idea is that if you can see yourself achieving something, you can “trick” your brain into believing it is possible. Suppose you want to run a marathon. While you are practicing for the marathon, you should visualize yourself crossing the finish line. Then the idea of crossing the finish line becomes real and helps increase your chance at achieving that goal. The same can hold true for your clients. If your client is in physical therapy to learn to walk again after an illness or injury, they can visualize themself walking independently. Then they are one step closer to that goal.

The first step is to think about your goal. Do you, or does your client, want to reduce stress or help heal an injury? What setting or event could you visualize to help reach that goal? For example, if your goal is to reduce stress, you may want to think about a time or place in which you felt calm.

The second step is to get comfortable. Find a place free of distractions. Lie down if possible. Close your eyes. Think about the setting or event you chose. Think about how you feel, what you would smell, and what you would hear. Make it as real and vivid as possible.

Using the same visualization over and over can be your brain’s trigger to say, “Hey—relax!” Repeating this exercise can help reduce stress and reach your goals. Enjoy, relax, and visualize your success! You can help your clients visualize too.

Breathing Exercises

Breathing is one of those things in life that we rarely think about. However, most people do not know how to breathe correctly. Most people breathe with their chests, rather than with their bellies. Breathing from the chest is shallow breathing, and it can lead to fatigue, headaches, and even muscle pain. Pay attention to how you are breathing right now. Take this test to see if you are breathing in the correct way. Lie down on your back and close your eyes. Place one hand on your belly and one hand on your chest. Is your belly moving in and out, or is your chest moving up and down? If your belly is moving in and out—congratulations! You breathe correctly. Belly breathing has a relaxation effect, and, just like other exercises, can help your general health.

To belly breathe, lie down on your back with your knees bent and slightly apart. Place your hands on your belly and close your eyes. Try to clear your mind and only focus on your breathing. Breathe in deeply through your nose, hold slightly, and then release the breath through your mouth. Pay attention to the sound the air makes. Envision your lungs filling completely with air and then expelling that air. Continue this for several minutes. When done, you should feel relaxed and rejuvenated!