Why is Mental Wellness important for Nurses?
Mental Wellness creates a positive environment. A person who possesses mental wellness generates a pleasing vibe which reverbs to the people around him/her.
In medical institutions, for instance, patients are already experiencing all the possible negativities. So nurses, being the hope to those who have lost it, bring the best to the table by practicing mental wellness for themselves. As the saying goes, “you cannot give what you do not have.”
Generally, nurses try their very best to give the best to their patients. Just like anybody, they have silent battles. They also face challenges outside of work. Yet, they continue to keep their minds in control to only give the positivity their patients need.
Nurses practice their profession in different settings. It could be in hospitals, residential care, schools, and other medical clinics. They work to provide optimal care to their patients.
Like every profession, nurses face challenges that may ripple to their performance at work. They are known to be the face of care and the mirror of wellness. Such that, they conceal their personal struggles to not concern their patients as they give care to them. But who gives optimal care to the ones who give it? How do nurses keep themselves mentally well?
Mental Wellness vs. Mental Health
Two of the most common terms discussed these days are mental wellness and mental health. How are these terms different?
Sweap Connections defines mental health as the emotional, psychological, and social well-being of a person. Basically, everyone carries a different state of mental health which may fluctuate as one progresses in life. It can be negatively or positively impacted depending on the environment and how one deals with crises in life.
Mental wellness, on the other hand, refers to the positive state of mental health (SAMH, n.d.) In a nutshell, you are in control of your mind. You use it to function at your best in whatever situation you are in. Not everyone finds it easy to control their thoughts, emotions, and behavior. But if you are trying, you deserve a tap on your back.
For nurses, it is extra challenging since they work where most negativity arises. Given the right mental state, nurses twist the case and look at the brighter side to make everything as positive as it can be.
But what do nurses face in their pursuit of mental wellness?
Challenges Nurses Face with their Mental Wellness
Achieving mental wellness does not happen in a day. It takes a lot of time to finally be in control of your mind. Sometimes, external factors such as the environment accelerate the success of attaining mental wellness. But what if you are exposed to an environment where most negativities surface?
This is where the challenge comes in for nurses. Problems don’t just happen to them at home. They are everywhere. Apart from that, there are also silent battles nurses face from time to time. With the heavy personal matters they carry, how much load can they accommodate if where they are working is a face of medical problems?
Trying to attain mental wellness is possible yet extremely challenging on the nurses end, but nurses are tough. They are where they are because of the strength and courage they possess. They’ve been through a lot only to give up being the hope to those who are trying to find it.
In all professions, it is best to practice mental wellness. But we can’t skip to the good part, can we? So where do we start? By assessing the roots of mental wellness.
Understanding The Roots: Importance of Mental Health
Mental health is a hot potato in this era. Gone are the days that it is treated the least since it is an unobservable behavior. These days, people grow to be aware and sensitive of other people’s mental state. Why do we care so much about it?
It is believed that mental health and human performance are not two separate pursuits but rather two parts of the same equation (Waters, 2022). Often, how a human behaves is a reflection of their mental well-being.
If one acts negatively different from how he/she usually is, most likely something or someone bothers him/her. This can lead to instability of one’s mental health if left suppressed. Others may be good at concealing, but at some point it will always show up.
Looking at the perspective in the workplace, an employee may perform differently if he/she has problems at home, with peers, or when it comes to intimate relationships. This poses a challenge because it is not something that one can just turn off in an instant. Upshaw (2021) enumerates effects of mental health challenges. These include:
- Decreased productivity and performance
Nurses who have mental health challenges may question the importance of their jobs; they may occasionally call in ill. When nurses lack motivation or don’t believe their efforts are valued, turnover occurs.
- Decreased engagement with one’s work
Nurse’s workplace plays a key factor in their engagement to work and their mental state. Nurses won’t feel empowered to present their whole self to work if they don’t believe their boss or team supports what makes them special. They are therefore more inclined to be disengaged.
- Poorer communication with coworkers
As a result of inadequate communication, nurses may get more tense which could lead to conflict. Lack of communication could lead nurses to assume the wrong things, including leaving other workers to finish their work when this task wasn’t previously acknowledged by the team.
- Decreased physical capability and functioning
The decreased physical capability that comes with challenges to mental health, which lead to diminished muscle force or muscle strength, may be one of the main causes of restrictions in daily mobility of nurses. When challenged mentally, the overall physical functioning may be restricted. Due to these losses, the functional capacity—which includes ability and intensity—has been reduced.
When left unnoticed, these effects can be totally detrimental to nurses and their workspace. It is important to nip it in the bud to positively progress in life.
Nurse’s Nature of Work and Keeping Everything Mentally Well
As cited in an article in Rasmussen University (2020), “Nursing is not an easy profession—it requires both physical and mental stamina to make it through those 14-hour shifts.”
Behind the genuine and optimal provided by nurses are skipped meals and deprived bathroom breaks. Just imagine holding on to your bladder just to get your work properly and smoothly done. These are but a few things nurses sacrifice for the sake of their patients.
Nurses also face difficulty in seeing people suffer from physical, mental, and emotional pain. Especially with the attachment that comes in caring for their patient, they become emphatic of their patient’s well-being.
In a short span, their patients become a part of their life. Despite the expected goodbye, nurses find the light to their job by knowing that they have made a difference, big or small, to the patient’s life or family.
Not everyone is able to endure the challenges faced by nurses. One must be truly passionate about this profession to successfully carry out this job.
Nurse’s job is not limited to providing care for the patients, it is also giving patients hope and making a difference to their lives. With these unlimited opportunities for fulfillment, nurses keep everything mentally well for themselves and for the patients who need them.
AuRNPathway on Values to Nurses
Simply becoming a nurse is an overwhelming journey – mentally, physically, and emotionally. And to actually practice the profession, nurses must be strong in all possible aspects. That is to say, nursing should be a passion and not just a job.
At AuRNPathway, we help these aspiring nurses unburden the loads and inspire them in their journey. Nurse educators can see through an aspirant’s struggles because they have been there before. We help you get to a smooth sailing journey by being with you and helping you all the way through.
The road ahead of you and your dream to become a nurse in the future will not be easy, but with AuRNPathway we see your value beyond becoming a nurse. We see you as someone who will touch a life and inspire that person to be better. We see you as a ripple of an endless hope. Why not start your journey with us? And be the hope for the one who’s about to give up.
References:
Flavin, B. 2020. What I Wish Someone Told Me BEFORE Becoming a Registered Nurse
Sweap Connections. n.d. A need to clarify how we talk about well-being vs. mental health vs. mental illness.
Upshaw, N.W. 2021. Corporate Wellness: The Importance of mental health at work
Waters, S. 2022. The Importance of mental health in the workplace.
