Therapeutic Humor in Nursing: More Important Than Ever

Nursing during a pandemic is no laughing matter…but it was for me.

Photo by Mathias Konrath on Unsplash

Assessing mental health patients over the phone at the VA was always challenging. I worked with the primary care providers, assessing new patients and getting them the right mental health resources.

Little did I know it was going to be taken to another level during the pandemic. It was Covid mental health mayhem: Covid cold calls, suicidal calls, PTSD patients plummeting with increased isolation and hospitalizations. There was increased depression, anxiety, and insomnia (and that was just the RN staff members, LOL!).

I couldn’t control this pandemic, my frustration over anti-vaxxers, the fatigue, fears, or sadness. But what I realized I could control was my daily interactions with the patients. I had to do review the PHQ-9 questionnaire for major depression symptoms and the GAD for anxiety. Once I’d finished the mental health assessments, I’d concentrate on the behavioral activation their results suggested.

Cultivating patient connection through laughter.

Having taken part in research on the therapeutic benefits of humor, one strategy I often used with these patients was to ask them, “What made you laugh today?”

At first, many couldn’t think of anything. So I decided to ask about more […]

2021-12-01T08:29:30-05:00December 1st, 2021|Nursing|2 Comments
Read More

Looking for Positive Things As We Near Thanksgiving

As we near Thanksgiving, I increasingly find myself looking for positive things—partly to help diminish my sadness about the still-mounting COVID-19 deaths and the nearly universal strain that everyone, perhaps especially those in health care, seems to be feeling.

As I wrote in last November’s editorial:

“Though I’m by no means a Pollyanna, I do believe incessant dwelling on the negatives doesn’t help any of us; we also need to examine the positives. I recall how exhausting it was to work a long, hard shift alongside someone who complained about everything. The negativity colored my own perceptions and stayed with me well after the shift ended. Conversely, working with colleagues who offered support and voiced a “we will get through this” attitude inspired confidence and optimism. My first nurse manager in the ED was superb at this, especially during some very harrowing shifts.” […]

2021-11-23T15:17:39-05:00November 23rd, 2021|wellness|0 Comments
Read More

Helping Older Adults Get the Care That Matters to Them

Family caregivers should be partners in caring when family members are hospitalized.

“An estimated 41.8 million Americans were caregivers of an older adult relative or friend in 2020.” (From “The Four Ms of an Age-Friendly Health System” in AJN‘s November issue.)

That’s an impressive number, especially when one considers that any of the caregivers themselves may be older adults with chronic illness.

Are we preparing caregivers?

We ask a lot of these individuals, especially given the many complex tasks they are asked to perform, often with little or no training. And that’s nursing’s role—ensuring our patients are discharged to family members prepared to provide the care needed.

As a nurse, I felt prepared to be a caregiver for a family member who was discharged after complex cancer surgery. I was astonished at the brief discharge instructions for managing the Foley catheter, drains, and eight different medications; then I was handed a manila folder of papers about each medication. It took me a few hours to sort out schedules for medications and flushing drains.

But what about caregivers with no health care training, or who may not have manual dexterity or see clearly, or perhaps lack literacy at the level needed? Unfortunately, many hospitals are under resourced—in […]

2021-11-15T10:49:14-05:00November 15th, 2021|Nursing, Patients|0 Comments
Read More

Nurses Don’t Seek Help When They Need It Most

Nurses with suicidal ideation are less likely to seek help. We need to change that.

The original research article in AJN‘s November issue should prompt concern among the nursing and broader health care community. The article, “Suicidal Ideation and Attitudes Toward Help Seeking in US Nurses Relative to the General Population,” describes the results of a survey sent to nearly 87,000 members of the American Nurses Association (ANA) in late 2017. It provides essential pre-pandemic data which can serve as a post-pandemic baseline going forward.

Higher prevalence of suicidal ideation in nurses.

Of the 7,378 nurses who responded (over 47% were hospital based), 5.5% reported suicidal thoughts over the prior year. Over 43% “screened positive for depression symptoms.” When researchers compared nurses with almost 5,200 age-matched other types of workers, the prevalence of suicidal ideation was 5.8% for nurses, compared to 4.3% for other U.S. workers.

Perhaps of greatest concern is that while most nurses (85%) indicated they would seek help for emotional problems, of those reporting having had suicidal ideation, 72.6% said that they would “probably or definitely” seek help. According to the authors, this is similar to results from studies of physicians and medical students.

As caregivers, we often ignore our own needs and focus on those of others. […]

2021-11-04T09:35:44-04:00November 4th, 2021|Nursing|0 Comments
Read More

Asleep at the Wheel: Night Shift and Drowsy Driving

‘The most exhausting year of my life.’

Photo by Jan Baborák/ Unsplash

In my 25-year-plus nursing career, I’ve had the opportunity to work every shift—days, nights, evenings, 8-hour and 12-hour shifts. Without a doubt, my least favorite was 12-hour night shifts, as I am more of a morning person than night person.

When I was a new graduate, it was hard finding a job on the day shift, since it’s typically more popular and there are fewer openings for inexperienced nurses. Because of this, I accepted a position working from 7 pm to 7 am.

It was the most exhausting year of my life. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t sleep well during the day, and by the end of the 12 hours I was wiped out. Although I was lucky enough to live only a few miles from the hospital, I found it difficult to stay awake for the whole ride home. I would catch myself trying to keep my eyelids from closing, and a few times I briefly fell asleep at red lights.

Close calls on the roads.

I am grateful that nothing bad ever happened during my sleep-deprived journeys. I have a friend who wasn’t as lucky and totaled her car one morning on the […]

2021-10-04T11:15:27-04:00October 4th, 2021|Nursing|0 Comments
Read More

Comment ground rules

1. Please be respectful.
2. We moderate all comments.

Content disclaimer

Views expressed on the blog are solely those of the authors or persons quoted. They do not necessarily reflect AJN’s views or those of Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
Go to Top