🩺🧠 Behind the Scrubs: The Real Health Impact of Nursing in Australia

Q: What’s the biggest health challenge nurses face right now?

Nurse Writer Melbourne: Burnout has become a buzz word nowadays but this is our biggest challenge and it is multifaceted. It doesn’t mean we need more sleep, it means we need organisational and industrial change. 

Closely following burnout, nurses are exhausted from increased role expectations and poor mental health care. 

Nurses are experiencing burnout, PTSD, anxiety and depression in alarming numbers. We are still bearing the brunt of the pandemic even though everyone else has moved forward. Nurses are still working in hospitals with poor staffing, lack of resources, limited skill mix and poor working conditions. There is rarely a single day when the hospital is fully staffed. This has a knock on effect for our patients and the general public. 

During the pandemic, nurses received an onslaught of public empathy for our incredible role in fighting illnesses and administering patient care. However, when it came to proper renumeration for healthcare workers, the public discourse fell short. It’s even worse in a post pandemic era. 

Q: How does the job impact mental health long term?

Nurse Writer Melbourne: Nurses witness traumatic events on a daily basis and it is often accepted as part of the job. Currently in healthcare, there is little to no mental health support for nurses. I was 22 years old when my first patient died and there was no support at all. In recent years, some organisations have been offering 3 free counselling sessions, which is a dismal attempt at mental health support. 

Nurses are often thrust into situations for which they have received inadequate training, no support and deficient knowledge. These factors alone contribute to poor mental health and learned helplessness. Add death, trauma and workplace violence into the mix and its a pretty grim recipe for wellness.

Research shows 96% of nurses experience at least one symptom of PTSD, with 21% of nurses qualifying for a clinical diagnosis of PTSD. Over 30% of nurses will experience depressive symptoms and 40% will experience symptoms of anxiety. This is much higher than the general population. 

References:

https://www.ons.org/publications-research/voice/news-views/08-2020/ptsd-more-common-among-nurses-you-may-realize 

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6339147/ 

Q: What do you wish more people understood about nursing?

Nurse Writer Melbourne: I wish people knew how stimulating and demanding a career in nursing can be. Often when an individual is seeking healthcare, it is one of the most stressful experiences of their life. This is what nurses are surrounded by every single day and oftentimes, the organisation isn’t helping their case. 

Your nurse wants you to receive the best care, they want you to get the next bed available and they don’t want you to sit in the waiting room. 

Nurses have devoted unpaid labor and their precious time to study, up skill and improve their clinical practice so they can care for the public. Again, I must stress this is unpaid and often not reflected in their salary, either. Student registered nurses will complete over 800 hours of unpaid training in their undergraduate degree. If they choose to up skill or specialise, the number of unpaid hours are infinite. 

Nursing as a profession has progressed since its infancy - it is no longer just about personal care, we are specialised experts in our field. Yet, instead of delegating tasks to make more space for specialised skills, our workload has multiplied. We are now expected to know more and do more, without any extra time, resources or income. 

We aren’t angels or heroes, we are highly trained professionals and we deserve to be appropriately compensated and recognised. 

Q: What do you wish you’d known on your first day as a nurse?

Nurse Writer Melbourne: I wish I knew that it’s normal to feel like you know nothing, but actually, on day one you know all you are meant to know! The learning never stops, so keep asking questions and seek help when you need it. 

Q: What advice would you give to a nurse who’s one month into the job and already overwhelmed?

Nurse Writer Melbourne: Your patients are important but so are you. Create a self care plan, seek professional advice and prioritise your own wellbeing. No one will thank you when you burnout. It's really tough, but so are you.

Q: How can experienced nurses lead without burning themselves out?

Nurse Writer Melbourne: Boundaries. Nurses always want to put their hand up and help other people, even when they don’t have the time or energy. Leaders need to teach their team how to implement boundaries relating to shifts, overtime, breaks and educational opportunities. Educate your team as much as possible, so when you don’t have the time, there are other people who can step up and take charge. This isn’t a weakness, its protective and it also helps others grow and succeed.

Q: What mindset shifts helped you go from surviving shifts to building longevity in your career?

Nurse Writer Melbourne: I worked closely with a private psychologist to help dismantle unhealthy mental habits I had around work. One of the main skills I practiced was learning to implement boundaries - don’t answer work emails and texts outside of work, practice mindfulness to reduce emotional burden after shifts and make sure you work to live, don’t live to work. Short falls in the roster are not your responsibility and if you pick up extras to the point of burnout, this will disservice yourself, your patients and your workplace even more. 

Take care of yourself first. Without nurses, healthcare is obsolete.