Nursing N°1 Stress Competition
We offered a competition asking nurses to tell us in under 200 words how they handled stress at work. The first prize was a Champneys Spa Break for two worth over £400.
Runner up entry:
The runner up was Barbara Caren, a health visitor/community practice teacher from Lancashire, who wrote:
'I am a health visitor and a community practice teacher working in a busy clinic in Chorley, Lancashire. Like other primary care workers, we are still in the throes of re-structuring, a process that started in October 2006. Role re-design and recruitment freezes are common features of this process. When asked what I do to unwind and relax my reply usually is "I will be swinging at the weekend". The ensuing raised eyebrows always compels me to explain that I have a swinging seat at the bottom of my garden where I sit (weather permitting) and drink freshly prepared fruit juice, or while away some time with a small glass of red wine (good for cholesterol levels I am told!) whilst looking at the flowers and greenery that surround me. If the weather is not conducive, I tend then to "swing" indoors, dusting and cleaning to the big band sounds (especially Dean Martin!). So in conclusion, I can wholeheartedly recommend "swinging" and "singing" as positive stress-busting strategies!'
Winning entry:
The winning entry was written by Fiona Mathieson, a community matron from Central Surrey, who wrote:
'How do I cope when I am wading through bureaucracy, meeting targets, professionally developing and promoting a new role and feel the pressure mounting? Actually, I let the job cope for me. This is what I mean.
I am touched by the old man who picked every daffodil in his garden for me after I'd admired them the day before and the 93 year-old with cardiac failure who bakes rock buns for me as she knows I have a house full of hungry men. I am amused by a patient who self-diagnosed her leg pain as being "them measles what went back in" and by a patient's parrot who calls me "a pretty girl" - uplifting, even though not true! But most of all I am satisfied by being told that I made a difference and made a difficult life better.
My patients remind me every day of why I do my job and place the irritations in context. The patients invariably lift my spirits and whilst there is a steady supply of them I will always be able to keep my stress levels under control.
