I have been researching this subject, obviously. There is not a lot written about nurses and support, which really does not surprise me since this might show a weakness or need and nurses do not need and they can handle everything.
I did find one article written by a nurse that wanted to start a support group. She asked for help with this on the internet regarding suggestions to do this. To my surprise nurses that did respond were apalled by the idea. They basically saw no need for such a group. Nurses had all of the support that they need and everything is fine. Hm, that is amazing. They must work in a pretty spectacular place. I don’t know of any place that is without problems and is as supportive as suggested.
What is going on here? Well, there were a few nurses that were probably closer to the truth about this. They were afraid that whatever they openly discussed would get back to administration which would cause even more stress and problems in their lives. I talked about this in another article and about how afraid nurses are to even seek support or counseling after they have lost a patient or gone through tragedy after tragedy and even if it is provided by the facility and encourages staff to take advantage of this. Even in these situations nurses are afraid that they will be seen as weak or emotionally unstable if they do so. This probably goes back to the early days when nurses were discouraged from expressing any emotions.
Anyway, times have changed and people need to deal with how they are feeling in order to preserve their mental health in a positive and healthy way. So why has this not changed for nurses? The next question is how does this get changed? Even the nurses that are feeling all of this are either in denial or terrified and unable to do anything to deal with this.
The first step of course is to look at this and admit that there is a problem and then find a way to deal with it, such as start a support group. One thing that may be needed is to find someone that is not directly involved in their particular situation to help them even admit to the problem and come up with possible solutions. They need to seek out unbiased, impartial people to start with and get other nurses to do the same.
If something is not done to support nurses, burnout is probably inevitable. Denial and fear are very powerful. Nurses need to face this and empower themselves to make changes that they need to make their life and job less stressful. Seek that support. Start a support group. Figure out what makes you happy and feel good about yourself and go after it. Reward yourself. You are important and deserve support and care.
If you feel like there is no way to do this perhaps looking into other options is something you may want to do. Or if you want to continue to work in nursing maybe adding something will help you to feel more supported. One consideration is to start your own business on line which may be what you need to keep you going and in addition to this it will give you something to fall back on if you decide you want to do something else.
Wealthy Support is a way to go and it is free to start with. Everyone has interests in his life other than work. All you need to do is focus on one of them that you are passionate about and start a website and internet business. There is so much support in this group, too. Someone is always available to help you with whatever you need. It certainly would not hurt to give it a try. It is free and you could see if it is something that would enhance your life.
Obviously nurses have opinions about this subject and some are volatile. If you would like to voice your opinions and comments on this subject please feel free to do so. Much more is needed on this subject.