Difficult days to come: Resilience in nursing

Congratulations on embarking on what I’m sure for most of you will be a fully rewarding career in nursing and beyond. I say beyond because nobody really knows where your career will take you.

Nursing is truly one of those professions that can open so many doors. I have been a nurse for nearly 20 years. Some friends still work in the ward they loved some 20 years ago, whilst other friends are heads of departments, heads of hospitals, one friend is even working for the World Health Organisation overseas, impacting the lives of people more in need than most.

I point this out because all of us, including me, will continue to change how we think about work, our roles, and how it makes us grow.

While I hope you have a bubble of excitement about your new career I’m sure that’s balanced with a little fear.

I hope that by engaging with the material here, and the many resources your workplace provides or your union if you’re a member, that we can go a little way to better prepare you for what’s ahead.

I don’t love the word resilience, but in healthcare we do need to come to work every day ready for work… I prefer to think of this as having a professional persona. I hope to talk more about this in another piece.

Back to that little bit of fear you’re probably dealing with. I’m going to break that down to three keys themes.

Lack of knowledge

This is perhaps what most people fear coming into a new profession, “I don’t know enough”.

I think the earlier you come to terms with the fact that everyone is always learning, even the most senior nurses and doctors, the better you’ll be. Take each day as it comes, use the resources available to you: look up medications, look up conditions, look up protocols/procedure guidelines, ask your colleagues.

When asking questions try to be specific about exactly what you're unsure about.

• Is it that you’ve never seen this particular drain before?
• Is this the first time you’ve managed a syringe driver infusion?
• Is it the first time you’ve had to escalate care and call for HELP?

Make the most of every resource until you start to feel more comfortable.

For some this will take a couple of months, for others it might take six months. As hard as it is, try not to compare yourself to other graduates… you are starting your career, you’re not sprinting to a finish line.

Trust your instinct and if the area doesn’t feel right for you then talk to a trusted colleague or friend and look for an area you think might be a better fit. I have always been a nurse in the acute hospital sector, but that is a fraction of what nursing can be for you. Find something you might be interested in and try.

Patient care

I’m not talking about a patient load of 4, 5 or more patients. I’m talking about the challenges caring for people and their loved ones can bring.

We so often deal with grief in healthcare in one way or another. If people are engaging with healthcare they are stressed, their loved ones are stressed and I know I’m not my best self when stressed.

It comes back to having a little resilience in our work but that does not mean tolerating poor treatment or conditions! Do not feel you need to tolerate poor behaviour by patients or others, speak to your line manager (nurse in charge) and if they don’t give you a suitable response, go to the next manager (unit manager).

Increasingly, workplaces are recognising the challenges faced in healthcare and taking steps to support all healthcare workers of which nursing is on the frontline. I want you to be kind to yourself - you will make mistakes and at times appear foolish.

We have all been there, in those moments remember the difference you could make for that patient/family in the future, or for the next person you care for. Part of being a professional is reflection and growth.

Colleague interactions

This is probably the most impactful. We rely on our colleagues more than ever in our early years so when that support is not there it hurts! We feel isolated and exposed.

Unfortunately, you are going to have poor interactions with a colleague at some point early in your career, be it a nurse, doctor or other health professional.

Try and remember we all bring our own history to every interaction, so often they are frustrated about something unrelated to this specific problem and you are just the person in front of them right now.

Most people you will be dealing with are working to the absolute limits of what they can do and that stress means they aren’t bringing the best of themselves to the situation.

Again, not an excuse for tolerating poor behaviour and you should not be made to feel uncomfortable or unsafe at work.If you do please talk through your feelings with your manager/s, a trusted colleague/friend, or use whatever other resource is available to you to help.

Walking in prepared

In closing, reading this before starting your career might seem a little bleak, but I firmly believe knowledge is power.

If you go into the early years of your career better informed I hope you will be better able to navigate some of these challenges that every single one of your colleagues has faced. Sometimes they have overcome, sometimes it’s left a little scar.

I think there’s power in that collective experience; there’s a reason people are proud to call themselves a nurse, and why the community holds us in such high regard.

Nursing is the largest healthcare workforce in Australia and the world, and with that comes the power to continue making things a little better for our communities, or maybe just the next nurse or the one after them.

I wish you the best of luck in your career, wherever it may take you!