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Monday, May 8, 2017

May 2017, Bring the Joy Back to Nursing

Happy Oncology Nurses Month! 

Our final post for Journal Club this year is about nurses and burnout.The Johnson Foundation gathered many of our countries greatest nurse researchers and advocates to discuss what could be done to help heal, retain and recruit more registered nurses. Did our current wave of nurses invent the concept of burn out, or has it always been a part of this career path? I think instead of focusing on the negative aspects of nursing, the article speaks to our ability to survive if not thrive in our careers through attitude and self care.

Burn out occurs in all professions, but as nurses, we are the essential front line "healers of health-care" in a precariously fractured system. If we do not bring the joy back to nursing, then who will? Please read and enjoy A Gold Bond to Restore the Joy of Nursing

Questions

What is The Johnson Foundation and why does their study carry so much importance?

In one word, if you could do it all over, would you still want to be a nurse? (My personal survey that I will keep confidential).

Discussion Question

After reading this article, use three words to describe what is needed to avoid burn out as a nurse.

Thanks to everyone who participated in Journal Club this year -  I truly love reading your answers and comments! This is the last article for 2016-17, Journal Club will return for it's seventh year in September! Send your ACE verification sheets to through inter-office mail, email, or drop them off at the Pain Management office on the third floor. 








92 comments:

  1. Hello All!

    The three words I would choose to describe what is needed to avoid burn out as a nurse are: Resilience, Self-care, and Comradery!

    Jessica Mendez

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  2. The three words I would use to describe what is needed to avoid nursing burn out are: optimism, confidence and self-care. Optimism to see the best in situations and people. Confidence to stand up for yourself and your patients. Self care to renew yourself to forget the stresses from yesterday and move forward with the new day fresh :)

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    1. Absolutely! And remembering that self care is not selfish!

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    2. Hi Brit!

      Confidence is key! Especially when standing up for yourself. In nursing, this is important because not only will you need to protect yourself so you do not get burnt out, but also to protect your patients from harm.

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  3. The three words I would use to describe what is needed to avoid burn out are: Self-care, Support and Teamwork.

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    1. I agree with Jessica as well. One needs to take care of self, support and teamwork are essential to avoid burnout.

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  4. Mindfulness, Thankfulness, and Self-Care. These will help keep you emotionally and occupationally healthy. Mindfulness in prayer, guided imagery, meditation,etc. Take a moment! You'll be glad you did. Thankfulness. There is always, ALWAYS something to be thankful for. And Self-Care. You are valuable! No one else can bring what YOU bring to our world. So be good to yourself. We need you.

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  5. Self-care, mindfulness and teamwork are the three words I would use to describe what is needed to avoid burnout. Tho practicing self care is what I consider most important.

    "Yes"

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    1. Hi Cathy!
      I totally agree with you. Mindfulness and self care go well together. You have to learn about yourself and me mindful of when you need self care. Learning to incorporate self care is important and makes such a difference! :)

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  6. Self-Care and perhaps most importantly, being able to say you need it and take the time for it.

    Support is so important. Supporting each other as a team, holding each other up through the tough times, and knowing we have that support can help us avoid burnout.

    Utilizing mindfulness can help avoid burnout too.

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    1. Self-care is so important. Sometimes for taking a few minutes in the morning to meditate or walking on the treadmill helps to start my day of right and I can handle the stress of the day. I can feel the difference in how stress effects me if I haven't taken those few moments for me.

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  7. I hate to sound like I am repeating all of the above but I feel the three words to avoid burnout for me is #1 optimism, #2 self care, #3 teamwork. Optimism is crucial because it is easy to become jaded in seeing what we do every day in the oncology field. #2 If we don't take care of ourselves, we will not last in this physically, emotional job. #3 we need each other every day, it takes a team to take care of our patients, ask for help if it's available to avoid burnout. As nurses, we try to fix everything, but having and relying on each other is key to avoiding burnout.

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    1. I agree as teamwork or staff support is key to survival. We are not an island, we need each other to survive the difficult times and to celebrate the successes.

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    2. I would certainly not survive without my team. I could never do this job on my own. Our 3rd floor team works great together. The support is amazing!

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    3. I really love your choice and reasoning for optimism. Your so right that we need each other to help avoid burnout too.

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  8. Self-Care, Vacations, and Teamwork.

    In the past, I have worked jobs for years without taking time off because we were always short-staffed so who would care for the patients? I have learned that is not what is best for me or our patients. I now use most of, if not all of, my vacation time every year and I am a better nurse and person for it. I work with a great team who are as dedicated as I am so that really helps on the difficult day.

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    1. Vacations are super important!! Its great to get away from the "real world" every now and then

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    2. I love the importance you placed on vacations! It is so easy to focus on the needs of your job and put off time for yourself. Vacations are a great way to "reset" and be more available when you return to your work.

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    3. I agree with the emphasis on the value of vacation. Unfortunately I learned this the hard way. In the past, I didn’t like to take time off. It just seemed like more work than it was worth. You work so hard to get everything done before vacation and then work overtime to catch up when you return! I felt bad for the extra burden this placed on the team.
      As others have reinforced, this time to reset mentally and physically is imperative. Circles back to the importance of self-preservation and the ability to do this without feeling guilty. Vacation is a necessity to wellbeing. Not merely a luxury.

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  9. After reading this article, use three words to describe what is needed to avoid burn out as a nurse.
    Love, teamwork, and listen

    -Mallory Mukka RN-BSN

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  10. Self-awareness/self-care
    Resilience
    Team support
    (I couldn't summarize in 3 words, I needed 7, lol!)
    Thanks for another great journal club experience!

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  11. Team Support, self-care, and I didn't think of it automatically, but I like Mallory's mention of love.

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  12. Self-care, kindness and support. Thank you Melissa!

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  13. Team support, positive attitude, self care

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  14. Self-care, teamwork, and a positive attitude (glass is full).

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  15. Three words to avoid burn out as a nurse are:(Although I could think of more than 3)
    1.) Gratitude. Being thankful of what we have everyday resonates how you take care of your patient/caregivers, yourself thru prayers to everyone.
    2.) Teamwork includes co worker and nursing leadership.
    3.) Self care, being healthy will help you counter any stress using coping mechanism learned from Holistic nursing & family support that includes love & understanding.

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    1. Love "gratitude" Imelda:-)

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    2. Yes, I could easily list more than three!

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    3. Imelda, Great three choices! As Tina says it is hard to chose just three. Your one on gratitude hits home with me. I am grateful to be a part of each patients journey

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  16. I will still be a nurse, I love my profession.

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  17. self - care, optimism and team work although i can think of more words .

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  18. Self-care, teamwork and vacation

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  19. The three things that I think are necessary to avoid burn-out are: Self-care, positive attitude, and team-work.

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    1. As you pointed out in your comments to others, it's hard to choose just three words. This exercise really points out that we chose the words that we live and practice by.

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  20. For me, support from my coworkers. Like I mentioned earlier, I could not do this job without my team. They are like family.
    Self-care. I love that this is nationally recognized as part of nursing. And lastly, desire...or maybe passion. I believe you should love what you do. If not, its time to reevaluate.
    Thanks, Melissa, and thanks everyone for a great year!

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    1. I totally agree. I'm not sure I would still be in this field if it weren't for the love, support, and bond our team has with one another! It helped me learn as a nurse to have such a great team!

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    2. Yes, working with you girls definitely makes it easier to get through any rough day! teamwork can really make or break a unit. even the little things like being able to laugh with each other can be enough to make it through a rough or busy day.

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  21. My three things to avoid burn-out are:
    1. Exercise
    2. Vacation
    3. Teamwork

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  22. My ways to avoid burnout are practicing mindfulness, team work, and practicing self care. Being present and setting intention for my day whether I'm at work or at home are very important to me to remain focused on whatever task I'm doing whether it's relaxing or taking care of patients.
    I think the teamwork I'm surrounded with at work is amazing and really helps me to get through the rough days.
    Lastly self care has been something I've had to learn and I've done a lot of practicing with. Doing things that make me happy and at peace help me to lessen the burnout effects and sometimes completely diminish them on occasion.

    Thank you all for a great year of Journal Club. And thank you Melissa for all of the hard work and heart you put into it for all of us! Have a great summer everyone!

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  23. Self-care, Support, Mindfulness

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  24. Self-care, Vacation, Teamwork

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  25. Replies
    1. Yes, LOVE! Self-love, co-worker love, family and friendship love. Agree, agree, agree.

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    2. Sleep!! YES!! So vital. We need to be cognizant that sleep is something within our control. We can manage our time. Time does not have to manage us. Sleep is sooo important!!

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  26. Sleep, healthy diet, teamwork

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  27. Support,self care and faith. Nancy c

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  28. self-care, work/life balance, team work

    Jolie

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  29. Theresa Minniear – Clinical Research

    1) BREAKS – Nurses need to be able to eat and use the restroom, to remain functional!
    2) SUPPORT – Nurses need a quality manager who is compassionate and on site, in the unit.
    3) PTO – Nurses need an adequate amount of personal, vacation and sick days to alleviate stress and come back refreshed. Sick days are especially important due to not being able to work with immunocompromised patients.

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  30. vacation, give yourself space to re-energize/re-charge, delegate unnecessary work, actively manage your time to be productive with rewarding outcome, take a nice deep breath and let out negative emotions

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  31. Support-from peers, management, and family
    Passion-never forget why you became a nurse in the first place
    Humor-laughter goes a long way to ease stress.

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    Replies
    1. I agree with all three you have picked. A little humor, laughter, support, and passion goes a long way. Smiling is a good thing!

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  32. The three words that I feel that are needed to avoid burn out are:

    •Resilience: the ability to adapt to adversity or unexpected changes occurring in life which requires support (build and maintain positive, caring and trusting relationships at home and work), having protective reserves (practicing self care) for emotional and physical strength and being proactive to help create change (strengthens resiliency by being proactive; weakens resiliency when being passive or reactionary).

    •Positivity: positive thinking helps us to be healthier, more productive and ultimately happier.

    •Teamwork: according to Andrew Carnegie “teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.”

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  33. Optimistic, Love, Work/Life Balance

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  34. Three words I feel are needed to avoid burn out in nurses would be self-care, patience, and passion.

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  35. Passion
    Self-care
    Support
    Of course for each one of us, there may be variations, but I feel that having a passion for your life's work makes all the difference in the world.
    Thanks everyone for another great year of Journal Club, and thank you Melissa Leube for doing this for us.

    Brenda Chiappetta

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  36. Courage: to be able to withstand and face the challenges of our profession.

    Compassion: towards you- relax when you are able & to your patients as they go through tough moments.
    Coffee and/or Chocolate: When you are feeling burned out go for it and enjoy it! That really helps :-)
    Hortensia

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  37. Lisa Hammons

    Resilience, Mindfulness, Self-care

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  38. Make a Goal- Run a Marathon, Self-care- get a monthly massage, Social- be with family and friends.

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  39. Flexibility: to deal with changes
    Interests: outside of nursing
    Relationships: positive relationships with coworkers

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  40. Three words to avoid burn out for me are:
    CREATIVITY- Always bring something new in your practice all the time.
    POSITIVITY- It imbibes good mood and creates good vibes.
    WORK-LIFE BALANCE- The key to preventing burnout!!!!

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  41. Self-Care, Support (for each other), and a culture shift.
    We have to make nurse care a health and safety issue and WE have to stand by it instead of making people feel weak or less than others because they take their lunch, or go to the bathroom, or stand-up to management for work/life balance. GIVE US MORE CONTROL, SELF-SCHEDULING is a great tool, NO BULLIES, etc. I love that CTCA is ahead of the curve here too with a restorative room for nurses - we are leading the way!

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  42. Kate McArdle
    Three words to avoid nurse burnout
    Education, appreciation and rejuvenation.

    Nurses love to learn. We are expected to continue our education and the environment we work in needs to be friendly to the needs of the “ever a student” nurse. Everyone strives when they truly feel appreciated. The environment needs to truly reward excellence, instead of piling more work on those that excel. There is a saying out there, I don’t know the source. It goes something like, I do my job so well now I get to do three people’s jobs. Really working with the “work life balance” needs to be a priority. Five 10 hour days that you are working to meet the needs of the unit shouldn’t be punished for occurring overtime. The staff should be rewarded for their continued drive for the excellence of our units and if there is overtime, staffing should be addressed not the nurses work. Nursing staffing needs should be addressed by a nurse manager with floor experience and knowhow not by tiers of middle management.

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    1. I love your post! It never ends, and the work is relentless. It is never enough, and the more you give the more they take. The expectation is do all your work, and here is more, and now you need meet all these other goals, and do them on your own time. Work life balance does not exist and they wonder why there is a nursing shortage. There is a very unrealistic expectation regarding work loads.

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  43. My three words are mindfulness, grace and passion. Have the mindfulness to be responsive to your self and others, grace to forgive both yourself and others when the situation may be less than ideal, and maintaining a passion for the work that your do.

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  44. The three words I would use to describe what is needed to avoid nurse burnout are self-care, teamwork, and support. I feel these three words describe necessary responsibilities of the nurse to maintain a healthy attitude for such an emotional job.

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  45. The three words I would use to describe what is needed to prevent burnout are self-care, recognition, and autonomy. I think we are so busy doing the motions of the job and the job never being done that we forget to take care of ourselves. We need to come first, and we must make the effort to get into a habit of making that part of our lifestyle. Whether it be few minute breaks every couple of hours to rest our minds, yoga, a few minutes of meditation, making sure we get exercise regularly, etc. Organizations also need to provide a lot more recognition then they do. There is so little of this, and that recognition goes a long way. We do so much and we go unnoticed or rewarded for it. We also need more autonomy in my opinion in many positions. We just need to be allowed to do our jobs as that is hard enough, never mind all the policies and things that tie our hands and make it more difficult then it needs to be.

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  46. Three words that describe what is needed to prevent burn-out are: resiliency, self-care, and support. I believe that if those things are present, nurses can navigate the challenges that come along and can find a healthy balance between work and the rest of our lives. Thank you Melissa for once again facilitating Journal Club!

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  47. The three ways that I avoid burnout are... 1) co-workers/teamwork 2/family/selfcare 3peacefulness/exercise. All of these things help me deal with our stressful daily roles as nurses

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  48. Thank you Melissa L for your commitment to us and to journalphoria every year. You always make this a great place for the nurses to discuss very interesting topics.

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  49. Three words to describe what is needed to avoid burn out as a nurse:
    Replenish, positive attitude, and perspective.
    In my opinion, we each have a personal responsibility for ourselves and wellbeing. Accept what we do have control over and let go of all the other “stuff”. Know when and how to replenish. We give, give and give. It is important to give back patience and kindness to ourselves. Keep everything in proper perspective with a positive view of the world and its people. Sometimes we can get caught up in the trivial things that waste time and energy when in the big picture they are insignificant! Don’t sweat the little stuff!!

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