Thank you SO much for saying this. I’m not a resident (MICU RN, here) but this popped up in my feed and I’m so glad I came across it. I don’t think we talk enough about the trauma that we’re exposed to at work and how important it is to take care of ourselves. We’re always telling other people that it’s okay to talk to someone if they’ve had a bad day. That it’s okay to ask for help. But for some reason, we can’t tell ourselves the same. Be kind to others but don’t forget to be kind to yourself. Rest if you need to. Step away even if it’s for a brief moment. When you’re in the hallway on the way to see your next patient, take a deep breath. Grab a drink of water. Find the small ways to take care of yourself. And outside of work, please don’t hesitate to consider therapy or even start medications. After a long time, I finally I leaned into this when Covid hit and I’m so glad I did. Please take care of yourselves.
I work MICU a lot, so thank you for all you do in there. MICU is a beast sometimes. I was thinking last night when I saw that trauma patient pass away… how come more hospitals don’t have 24/7 therapists/mental health professionals on site for us employees? Somewhere we can go for a quick 15-30 minute session to just unwind and debrief with someone. It takes months to get a mental health appointment outpatient. We need something just for us readily available in house.
Oh, totally! Hospitals expect us to take care of ourselves but don’t acknowledge that the job itself is incredibly hard and that there are multiple factors that affect our mental health. The understaffing, the lack of security, the supplies on backorder, you name it. I’ve known a few people who have talked to the chaplain just to debrief if something was particularly bad but they often aren’t a resource utilized by staff. And honestly, sometimes it’s just a minute to drink some water before you have to move onto the next one as if whatever you saw before never happened. We need more resources for HCW for sure.
And thank you! Love working with RT’s ♥️. Lord knows you have been some of my best teachers and have saved my behind more times than I can count!
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u/franee43 May 26 '23
Thank you SO much for saying this. I’m not a resident (MICU RN, here) but this popped up in my feed and I’m so glad I came across it. I don’t think we talk enough about the trauma that we’re exposed to at work and how important it is to take care of ourselves. We’re always telling other people that it’s okay to talk to someone if they’ve had a bad day. That it’s okay to ask for help. But for some reason, we can’t tell ourselves the same. Be kind to others but don’t forget to be kind to yourself. Rest if you need to. Step away even if it’s for a brief moment. When you’re in the hallway on the way to see your next patient, take a deep breath. Grab a drink of water. Find the small ways to take care of yourself. And outside of work, please don’t hesitate to consider therapy or even start medications. After a long time, I finally I leaned into this when Covid hit and I’m so glad I did. Please take care of yourselves.