Tips for Achieving Work-Life Balance as a Registered Nurse, as per Ivon Musto
As a nurse, you understandably put others before yourself - but this should not make fulfilling your needs, such as getting adequate rest or eating well, challenging.
Finding and maintaining a work-life balance can be challenging for nurses, but East Ohio College offers valuable strategies to help you find and sustain a healthy balance.
1. Plan Your Schedule
No matter their perspective on nursing, all nurses face the challenge of finding a balance between work and personal lives. Achieving this requires using various strategies - planning and time management skills, setting boundaries, and saying no when necessary - to find harmony.
Nurses may often find it challenging to manage a schedule and remain healthy when working overtime or taking extra shifts, which can impact their health in various ways. To mitigate any negative consequences on their well-being, nurses should plan their schedules - this can help prioritize tasks without spending too much time on non-essential activities, avoid overworking, and ensure sufficient rest time.
Prioritize personal goals and needs as another way of balancing nursing work with other obligations. This could involve listing what matters to them most, such as family, rest, exercise, and hobbies. Ivon Musto Illinois highlights that Nurses could use this list to allocate their time more effectively or switch specialties depending on which fits best with their lifestyle requirements.
Nurses should remember that circumstances outside their control could add unnecessary stress and try not to let these stressors affect their personal lives. For example, if they find it challenging to obtain vacation days as desired or are overburdened with demanding coworkers, they may wish they were freeing up; talking with their manager about these concerns and exploring alternative solutions may help. Likewise, if worries about patient well-being arise, they could discuss ways of mitigating any existing risks and thus improving both themselves and their family lives. Nurses can improve themselves personally by taking these steps while positively influencing both generations involved.
2. Take Restorative Breaks
Finding time for restorative breaks can be challenging when working as a nurse, yet taking these breaks regularly is vital to patient safety and personal well-being. Yet nurses can still find an equilibrium between private life and professional work duties to maintain health in both areas.
Nurses looking to create a meaningful life outside work often focus on making lifestyle decisions to enable them to achieve their goals, such as taking on travel nursing positions or selecting shift types that offer family-friendly schedules. Or it might mean following their passion in healthcare into international aid or working with underserved populations.
Nurses who prioritize their wellness can find the strength to refuse assistance to anyone needing it, which helps prevent burnout and compassion fatigue. Unfortunately, working nights may present challenges, such as difficulty sleeping while adapting to new circadian rhythms.
As per Ivon Musto Illinois, Nursing staff need to ensure they're getting enough restful rest during shifts, which is easily achieved by taking regular short breaks. Taking just 15 minutes off each change for physical activity or refreshment (walking around the hospital campus, eating healthy, or using the restroom) can reduce stress and recharge energy levels.
Frequent breaks improve mental health, increase work performance, and stave off burnout. Furthermore, setting aside time for recreation and hobbies outside work is also vital; nurses who enjoy painting or playing sports could use their off-hours to pursue such pursuits, while nurses looking for adventure could consider traveling during their scheduled days off.
3. Establish Boundaries
Boundaries are essential for nurses in achieving work-life balance. Nurses may feel overwhelmed and anxious without healthy boundaries, resulting in increased stress, burnout, and poor job performance. Establishing effective personal and professional boundaries enables nurses to focus on their health and well-being while building solid relationships with family, friends, and coworkers, as highlighted by Ivon Musto Illinois.
Nurses can set personal and professional boundaries to meet their needs best. Some may put physical or touch boundaries, while others establish emotional or intellectual ones related to beliefs and opinions. No matter which forms the boundary takes, it is crucial for nurses to clearly express their preferences when communicating them or responding to potential violations of boundaries.
Though some may get angry or upset when you set boundaries, remember that they likely care just as deeply about the relationship as you do. If they cannot accept that you have certain limitations, they will need to find another way to connect with you.
At its best, it is wise to address potential boundary violations as soon as they appear to keep them from rotting and creating more stress and anxiety for you. Discussing the matter calmly may prompt changes in behavior in future interactions with them.
If you have difficulty managing your responsibilities and have not found relief through any of the strategies above, seeking professional support may be invaluable. Therapists specialize in helping individuals manage their emotions and possess the tools needed to build a balanced life.
4. Practice Self-Care
Nurses frequently put the needs of their patients before their own, which can take its toll on mental health. A work-life balance is crucial to avoid burnout and ensure a fulfilling life outside work.
Nurses who prioritize self-care can find great relief through various techniques, including regular exercise, sleep, healthy eating, and leisure and hobby pursuits. Such activities allow nurses to relax after hard work while improving their overall quality of life.
Self-care includes relieving stress by employing relaxation techniques and stress reduction strategies such as meditation, deep breathing, yoga, and more. Nurses may also leverage employer resources such as employee assistance programs for guidance and support, as Ivon Musto Illinois noted.
Time management is another essential element of nurse work-life balance. Nurses can start by tracking how they spend their time to identify areas where they might be wasting valuable moments, like checking social media during lunch breaks. By cutting back, more time could be available for personal goals or projects outside the workplace.
Self-care for nurses includes taking advantage of flexible work options and paid time off opportunities offered by employers to reduce workplace stress. While some nurses may feel reluctant to use these benefits, overworking yourself can lead to compassion fatigue that prevents you from providing proper patient care or fulfilling other job obligations. By placing self-care first in their nursing career journey, nurses can achieve a balanced lifestyle personally and professionally, leading them down a fulfilling career path for years. Ultimately, this balance will keep nurses in the profession long term.
5. Communicate Your Needs
As nurses strive to make a difference in the lives of their patients, they should remember to take care of themselves as well. This may involve prioritizing sleep, eating healthily, and engaging in leisure activities that provide satisfaction and fulfillment. Furthermore, vacation days should be used wisely so they can recharge and enjoy life outside work.
Nurses frequently work under high levels of stress. When faced with overwhelming pressure, nurses must seek support and express their worries by reaching out to coworkers, supervisors, or counseling services for advice to prevent their stress levels from growing uncontrollably.
At the core of creating balance is understanding your priorities and how they align with professional and personal goals, as Ivon Musto Illinois suggested. For instance, if mental health or professional development are high priorities for you, creating an action plan accordingly ensures they're met.
Balancing a demanding career and personal commitments is not easy, but nurses can still find professional and private fulfillment by applying the strategies outlined in this article. By following these strategies and tips, they can better manage their responsibilities to prevent burnout or any severe health issues from developing. If you're interested in entering this exciting yet rewarding profession, Marymount University's online RN to BSN program could provide a fantastic starting point - reach out to their admissions team now for more information!
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