This is a topic many people are unable to articulate. It isn’t easy to describe how studying nursing affects your mental health at a young age. But with student nurses under incredible pressure to succeed, its important to understand how to protect yourself and your mental health over the three years of lectures, exams and placement.
The Insights Network and Dig-In held a survey which questioned over 17,000 UK students on a variety of courses. 24% reported they had thought about taking their own life and 69% said that they felt anxious and refused to discuss their issues with their family or friends for fear of being labelled and stigmatised. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) reported that students reporting mental health issues increased, with over 15,000 students declaring a mental health issue in the first year of their studies. (Institute for Public Policy Research, 2017)
Research shows that female nurses are 23% more likely to commit suicide (Nursing Times, 2017) than the general public, likely feeling overwhelmed and possessing the knowledge of methods of suicide, thus making any attempts fatal with a low risk of resuscitation. With Sally Cooper, Lucy de Oliveira and Alexander Hocken all taking their lives over the past few years, we need to ensure we’re looking after our own health, as well as others. With a massive stigma about mental illness among medical and nursing students I have decided to share my steps.
- Remember your value
While many of us get called “The student” it is important to remember that we are the future of nursing. We all get stuff wrong from time to time and make mistakes but it is important to take it on the chin and learn from it. It doesn’t mean that you are a bad person for making a mistake it means that you’re learning. Even qualified nurses will put their hands up and say that they make mistakes. Don’t let a mistake knock you down, you were one of many students that applied for nursing and one of a handful that got a place on the course.
It is important that you reflect upon your mistakes and ask for advice on how you could have done this better. Most mentors will apply the sandwich strategy where they will apply constructive criticism, they will start off by telling you the positives and praising you. Then they will go onto the constructive chunk where they will talk about what they have witnessed and what they can suggest as an alternative and the reasoning behind that. They will then end the feedback session with a conclusion including positive, motivating feedback
2. Listen to your body
With nurses having a higher rate of stress causing psychosomatic illnesses it is important to look after your body. With 3 12.5 hour shifts a week and picking up bank shifts on top of that to earn an income, it is important to take care and listen to your body. Nursing school is full of pressure and can be horrendous getting into a pattern of night shifts, day shifts, balancing your social life and fitting in some revision. It is important to feed yourself with a balanced diet and listen to your body when it needs sleep.
3. Drink Plenty of Water
As a nurse we all know the impact that dehydration can cause, everything from UTIs to delirium can result from not taking in enough fluids and losing electrolytes. We know we’ve seen it before in our patients, so why do we think we’re any different? We need to take time to look after ourselves and ensure were keeping up our intake. I try to stick to having 200mls 8 times a day whether that’s cups of tea, coffee, squash or water. I rely on my HydrateM8 bottle. HydrateM8 who encourage better hydration with their tracker bottles. Check them out: https://hydratem8.co.uk
4. Develop a De-stressing strategy
Stress is horrendous and as much as we try to work and concentrate throughout it, it just isn’t doable. It is import that you understand when your body is telling you that it’s stressed. Are you becoming snappy? Lack of concentration? Lack of appetite? Has your sleeping pattern changed? I have been lucky enough to find something that works when stress becomes too much for me. I resort to the gym, the endorphins that are released leave me feeling on another level and I find that it is easier to concentrate on work and revision post gym. I also try to get a massage here and there which also helps as it releases the tension built up in your back that’s caused through stress. There are many other ways such as concentrating on your breathing for one minuet, taking deep breaths in and out. Tense all the muscles in your feet, then legs, then bum, then chest and arms, and release. Focus on how the tension feels, then focus on relaxing your entire body. These little exercised can help you physically cope with stress.
5. Surround yourself with positivity
Cut out the negativity. There is no time for those who say that they’re always there for you but never are or those who don’t understand your busy schedule and make the most of your days off. Surround yourself with those who matter the most to you, whether that be your partner, family or friends. Look back at those who have been there for you through thick and thin and appreciate those who are still with you from the start to the end. Sometimes it helps to remember life before nursing, take a night of the week off and totally forget about university and spend it with those who are full of positivity.
6. Speak to someone
Sometimes stuff happens and catches you out of the blue, the littlest things can affect you and you have no idea why until you sit back and reflect on it. Whether it’s a break up, bereavement, breaking your first bad news to a family or something that is just troubling you. Speak to someone about your worries, it is important to have that shoulder to support you and listen to you. No one can ever prepare you for your first death but somehow we are expected to just get on with it as part of our job. It is important to have a debrief with someone post bereavement to talk about things and ensure that everyone is ok and see if there is any support that someone may need, It may be that they reminded you of someone, you got on with them really well or you’ve recently been though a bereavement of your own. It is really unhealthy to bottle things up (speaking from my own experience). Nobody likes revealing their weaknesses but it is ok to say that you aren’t ok and shed a tear or two. Its part of our caring nature as a nurse. There is support out there, speak to your tutor, mentor, a fellow colleague or even charities such as mind or the Samaritans.
We care, so much otherwise we wouldn’t be doing this job. We spend our days caring for others that we sometimes forget to care for ourselves. Were busy looking after other people’s families that sometimes we neglect our own.
Nurses are the heart of healthcare and they aren’t often appreciated for what they do.
Keep doing what makes you happy and appreciate yourself. Don’t ever let anyone tell you “it’s your job, get over it”.
Life's Full of Ups and Downs 