Taking Care of Number One Is Not a Luxury

Are nurses more subject to developing depression than other professions?Probably, according to a report published by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in October 2007. The report didn’t single out nurses, but it did find that 9.6 percent of full-time “health care practitioners” between the ages of 18 and 64 suffered from major depression.Compare that to a rate of 7 percent among workers in general.And according to the same report, those in the 18-to-25-year-old bracket had the highest rate of depression.Stress is one of the risk factors that experts say contributes to depression, and nurses on the front lines at hospitals and clinics certainly experience this. Decisions made throughout the day can have vital consequences – a thought that must be in the back of every nurse’s mind as he/she begins a shift. They know their mistakes can result in more than just dollars lost or a recipe-gone-bad.According to a recent article in a nursing trade magazine, T. Larry Myette, MD, MPH, an occupational health physician at the University of British Columbia, attributes the high demands placed on nurses and their limited ability to control circumstances as reasons for experiencing stress.This only gets compounded with understaffing – one of the reasons that nurses are leaving the profession.Consider the findings of the annual staffing survey conducted by the American Nurses Association. The most recent one was compiled in May 2008. It found that slightly more than half of the 10,000-plus nurses who answered the survey were contemplating quitting their jobs.Just less than half of those attributed inadequate staffing as the reason.Almost a quarter of all respondents said they were thinking of leaving nursing altogether.That’s a lot of experience and talent to lose.Another study commissioned by Gannett Healthcare Group found that more than one-third of the nurses polled would consider leaving their current positions. They had a wish list, too, for the new job: a good schedule, more pay and more respect – all factors that could help stem the development of depression.Nurses have one more risk factor for depression, and this one is self-induced.They tend to put themselves at the bottom of the list when it comes to meeting the needs of the people in their professional and personal life. Women, in general, tend to do this far more than men, and women who go into helping professions – nurses, teachers, therapists, social workers – tend to be the worst offenders. Nurses must learn that taking care of ourselves is not an act of selfishness. Neglecting your needs can bring on resentment and depression, and then you’re no good to anyone.What factors in your workplace cause you to feel stressed?Have you ever considered leaving nursing because of stress and/or depression?What do you do to take care of yourself?Tell us about it.

Taking Care of Number One Is Not a Luxury

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