Salons: Common Sense Therapy for Stress November 26, 2010
Posted by mariemanthey in Nursing Salons, Professional Practice.Tags: Conversations, Health Care System, Hospitals, My Salon Updates
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Hi Marie,
Thought of you and the salons this morning as I was reading an article
about the risk of “compassion fatigue” in nurses. I copied a snippet
of the article below….makes me even more grateful for the nursing
salons on this eve of Thanksgiving. Thank you again for providing
this necessary venue for nursing. You are the best!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Although it is easy to say that nurses should be given the opportunity to recognize and talk about the stress that they experience, and to make plans for coping, these are challenging tasks. Trauma research indicates that people involved in traumatic events need to be able to “tell their story” 8 or 9 times to defuse the physiologic and psychological impact of what they have been through. Providing opportunities for nurses to get together to talk and support each other is common sense. As laypeople, we support and care for each other during stressful times. Somehow, we have to provide that same sort of commonsense therapy for healthcare professionals. Once people share what they are feeling, then strategies can be developed to cope with those feelings. However, in busy hospitals and clinics, it will be a challenge to find the time to provide these experiences.
Marie’s House Last evening, Nov. 10, 2010 November 10, 2010
Posted by mariemanthey in Nursing Salons.Tags: My Salon Updates, Nurse-Patient Relationship
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Last evening’s Salon was another remarkable event. It was that interesting mix of students and faculty, young grads and seasoned staff nurses that always results in a captivating conversation. This time it ranged from why these students chose nursing to the sense of emergence of spirituality (not religion) within practice, manifested by recognizing the importance of a nurse’s healing presence. This led to talking about the urgency of nurses today learning how to not only perform complex care activities competently, but to also be available personally for a deeper connection with patients and families.
Attendees came from nearby neighborhoods….but also from far away. At least two people drove over one hour each way to attend. A DON of a rural critical access hospital comes nearly every month and feels nourished and refreshed at the close of the Salon.
The variety of reasons we come into nursing, the variety of places we work, and the variety of issues we all have makes each discussion a phenomenal learning experience.
Marie Manthey's Nursing Salon 