2021 has affected everyone, especially our Nurses. Due to the pandemic, the Nursing Times said that mental health related absences among the UK’s NHS workforce have jumped by almost 40% in the past years.
Did you know that there were 4,000 staff that wasn’t working in June 2020 and it even happened last year 2021. The source informs us that healthcare workers are likely to not come to work because of their mental health problems. When covid-19 happened everyone was really sick or having medical problems, but they weren’t taking absences when this happened.
Obviously, in the last 2 years the wave of the pandemic has been particularly exhausting for nurses and other NHS staff. A good way of taking care of your physical health in the pandemic has been extremely well advertised. That’s why taking care of your mental health is equally important. Healthcare leaders were trying to improve the investment to be able to support mental health for their staff.
This is the Community Nurse (Band 5 -7) in Eastern/Anglia, Cambridge.
Here are a few tips for self care in the healthcare environment:
If you are struggling with mental health and you want to try and take care of your health. Below are some of the top tips for self care when working:
Choose your shifts wisely:
As a nurse you are more likely to accept all the shifts that are given by your agency, however this can lead you to burn out really quickly. It is important to keep control of your work life balance and to set targets/goals for the perfect locations and times for your shifts that you want.
Don’t forget to inform your consultants of what you want.
Take your breaks:
When you’re busy it can be tempting just to keep working through your breaks. It’s important to take some time to rest and recover. Even if this is only for a short time period.
It is perfectly fine to take breaks when it’s needed, so nurses don’t feel guilty for doing this. Just know that this is for your well being and for your patients safety. Also, make sure you are resting up and having some food or beverage. Water is the best thing to have to stay hydrated enough for the rest of your shift.
Ask for help:
Being an agency nurse you will be working with unfamiliar staff, patients and a completely different environment than you are used to. It is normal to feel awkward to ask for help from someone you hardly know but don’t let that stop you from doing your work because what you do is for your patient’s care.
Don’t struggle in silence!
Make sure you are friendly, open and have a good attitude with your patients and colleagues. You can ask for a handover from your senior nurses or leaders for every shift you do.
Avoid workplace gossip and politics:
When you are in a different workspace and you hardly know someone. It is best you have a conversation with someone that you will work with or just a random conversation in the break rooms. This is a good way to start a bond with someone because if you are stressed and busy. Also, you would want to vent your problems out to someone inside of keeping it within you. Holding it back in will affect your mental health and career.
Try to avoid getting into petty workplace gossip, so you should focus on yourself only – even if this means being antisocial on occasions. Focus on the work can help you avoid conflict and maintain a balanced work environment for yourself.
This is the Children’s Learning Disability Nurse (Band 6) in Eastern/Anglia, Colchester.
Look after your physical health
Nurses you must know better out of anyone else the difference between your physical and mental health. That it is not easy to eat proper food, to have enough water to keep you hydrated. Or to have plenty of sleep, if you don’t your sleeping pattern will change a lot if you’re an agency nurse. Try do the best you can do to make sure you have enough of these because it will make a big difference to your current mental health problem
Best way to keep on track with food is to prepare bulk healthy meal preps in advance so that way to have something ready to grab for leaving the house or to have after work. Instead of having junk food when you’re extremely tired after your shift. If you want to know how to prepare meals and what to prepare for it, you can read our blog on 5 Meal Prep Ideas.
Overall, we hope that this article helps you take better care of your mental health whilst working and that by taking these tips help you even more.
Please comment below if you have followed the top tips we told you around.
If yes, you can go visit our website and you can go to the CV-Library to find more job opportunities for All Healthcare Workers.
