Skip to main content

Surviving Spinning Plates: You Must Drink

It's 11:00am.  The shift started at 7:00am, maybe even 6:00am.  You've gotten through administering medications, assessing patients, are still working on helping people bathe, and maybe putting out a fire or two.  Breakfast involved a nutrition bar that you ate in three minutes because hey, eating that early in the morning doesn't always agree with you.  Physicians have finished rounds and you know a stream of orders is going to come your way sooner rather than later.

So, did you drink anything yet?  Anything besides your morning wake up beverage, whatever it might be?

If you haven't, it's time to start carrying a water bottle with you.  Yes, water is great for hydration, your skin looks great when you drink it regularly, but it has a more important function for a nurse.  It forces you to urinate.

Nurses are really good at ignoring when they have to go to the bathroom.  Dig back in your brain, however, to your pathophysiology course.  Ignoring the urge to urinate can lead to a urinary tract infection and bladder distension that weakens the bladder and might lead to incontinence.  Worse still, you might end up with a painful kidney infection that will keep you out of work.  And let's face it, a full bladder can be very distracting after awhile.  Am sure your patients would prefer you focused on their care and not distracted by the urge to pee.

Find a way to drink water while you work so you actually have an excuse for a 5 minute break.  It will be worth it in the long run, for both your physical and mental health.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is it time to get your PhD in Nursing or Midwifery?

 Over the years, I've written a lot about pursuing a PhD in nursing and I'm including midwives because we need more PhD prepared midwives too.  Getting a PhD is a great way to address the problems you've seen on the frontlines of COVID-19, another way to address the social injustices of racism and discrimination on health outcomes, and to make your voice heard by the decision-makers. A third of the 1% of nurses with PhDs will retire in the next five years so we need people to take their place. We cannot lose our voices in all the places where nurses and midwives with PhDs work. Here's a compilation of the posts I've written about getting a PhD and the things to think about as you figure out where you want to apply. PhD or DNP?   This is where many people start when trying to decide on their doctoral-level career advancement. This post has my two cents on the topic. Should you work as a nurse before getting a PhD?   There's a lot of opinions out there on this sub...
3 comments
Read more

The 32 Hour Work Week for Nurses

Sometimes it's nice to see research that confirms a hunch you've had for a few years.  A recent study in Health Affairs , one of the most influential health policy journals in the United States, looked at the effects of 12 hour shifts on patient satisfaction and nurse burnout rates. Turns out, results are not good.  The longer nurses worked in a day, the less satisfied patients were with the quality of care.  In addition, nurses working 12 hour shifts were more likely to become burnt out than those working fewer hours. On the overtime policy front, that's good news for nurses.  The study adds just one more reason why mandatory overtime is bad policy.  It should create incentive for staffing units appropriately and closer to the California standards. From another perspective, we know why nurses like 12 hour shifts.  Let's face it, 3 days a week of work and then a bunch of days off in a row, so many sometimes that you don't have to use vacation day...
Post a Comment
Read more

US Nurses: Vote Today!

Nurses: There is no excuse not to vote .   There is too much at stake this year that affects the health of our patients. Be a smart voter and choose five major issues that affect your job and your patients' ability to get care and services.  Take those five issues and make sure you study how candidates at all levels, from local representation through the president, match up with your perspectives. Voting because of a single issue or stance by a candidate is not good critical thinking.  The world is too complex for your vote to come down to one single thing. Finally, if you experience any voting issues, or are the subject of intimidation from other voters, poll watchers, or election site workers, please call 1-866-OUR -VOTE for legal assistance at no charge.
Post a Comment
Read more

Translate