How to Control Your Emotions as A Nurse

Many people think of nursing as challenging because of dealing with things such as vomit, sputum, and blood but what they do not realize is that dealing with body fluids is simpler than to handle emotions. Nurses are humans too, and emotions can get better of them. Feelings for nurses come from witnessing suffering by patients and dealing with complicated persons or work situations. Managing emotions is not a lesson in nursing school or part of orientation hence nurses must learn how to cope.

These are the way that nurses can control their emotions.

1.Develop emotional intelligence

The first step to emotional intelligence is to identify emotions and the buttons that trigger them. Emotional intelligence is an ability to identify and manage your feelings and those affecting others. For instance, it is essential to go through the reports about the next patient if you are a nurse who does not like dealing with patients who are dependent on drugs. Knowing about it in advance helps to recognize the trigger and prepare to stay calm before attending to the patient. You can, for instance, take deep breaths by doing something simple smiling at the patient because it helps to lighten the mood.

Emotional intelligence is more important than technical skills and cognitive abilities to determine leadership ability. Successful nurses were found to have above average emotional intelligence and due to the evidence showing that EI is essential to be a happy, successful nurse.

2.Avoid personalizing issues

Nurses should know that patients and their loved ones suffer much stress. It is essential to understand that they at that moment see nurses as an extension of a hospital or practice and do not mean to demean anyone as an individual when they unleash anger or fear. The best approach is to transfer their excesses to the healthcare institution and remove you from such situations. You can, for instance, explain an intense situation to a floor manager and leave the responsibility to manage it with her or him. Taking a few minutes away from workstation after the emotions session will help to clear the head calm nerves and recharge.

3.Practice resilience

Resilience is an ability to quickly overcome challenges and deal with them efficiently to promptly move forward in life. Building positive beliefs in nursing abilities helps emotions. A great way to build resilience is by increasing confidence in nursing abilities including a capacity to respond and deal with new job environments. Resilience increases an ability to perform well under pressure and improves the way of viewing life as well as its challenges.

4.Express feelings safely

Find a way of expressing the feelings from work experiences such as recording them in a notebook. It helps to organize thoughts and determine solutions, especially for the most stressful situations. You can invent a way of releasing the frustrations such as drawing claiming images, creating memes or sharing them with colleagues. Pent-up frustrations hurt within and it is essential to find a way of releasing them.

5.Find a mentor

A mentor especially an experienced nurse gives you a positive role model you can reach out for guidance. A mentor helps you to manage work demands and hopefully help to avoid burnout. A mentor can help to recognize emotions and express them in a proper manner that reduces emotional tension.

6.Practice deep breathing exercises

Deep breathing is an effective and proven coping skill. They help to relieve anxiety and emotional stress, improve mood and allow disengaging from things that are beyond control. Extra oxygen after deep breathing helps to relieve tension and provide essential feel-good endorphins. Deep breath has also proven to be effective in reducing stress and rejuvenating the mood. It is a simple exercise for a nurse to practice without the need to move away from the workplace.

Nurses should also take care of their physical health because it also affects the emotions. Physical fitness keeps the body and mind in an excellent state. Regular exercises, eating a healthy diet and getting enough sleep improves physical health that subsequently impacts emotions positively on a large scale.