https://www.infirmiere-canadienne.com/blogs/ic-contenu/2024/09/23/ny-a-pas-de-mal-a-ne-pas-se-sentir-bien
A perspective on and insight into critical nursing issues within the field of addictions and mental health
By Teryn Warnke
September 23, 2024
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As we become increasingly desensitized to the crises around us, it begs the question of whether that same desensitization is being unconsciously passed down into our patient care.
In a world full of seemingly constant crisis, it’s easy to become desensitized to the many continuing and arising issues that are thrust into our view. As nurses over the last few years, we’ve been overwhelmed with COVID, the opioid crisis, nursing shortages, increased overtime, and the moral distress that inevitably comes with it all.
During this time, we’ve seen the rapid loss of our colleagues, whether owing to the stress of COVID, burnout, early retirement, or a host of other reasons. As a result of these crises and loss, there seems to be an overall decrease in morale creeping into our profession. Yet so many of us continue to push forward because at our core is the desire to help and care for those when they need it most. However, as we become increasingly desensitized to the crises around us, it begs the question of whether that same desensitization is being unconsciously passed down into our patient care.
Stigmatized patients need nurses’ help the most
One critical area of health care that must be looked at when it comes to this issue is that of addictions and mental health. The patient population that requires care under this umbrella can all too often be overlooked or looked down upon due to the conscious or unconscious stigma that is associated with this specialty of care. Unfortunately, these patients are often the ones who need us the most.
When someone presents to a hospital or clinic seeking care and attention for their mental illness or addiction, they’re doing it because they require acute assistance. They don’t want to be judged, dismissed or neglected. They want and need to be treated with the same compassion, care and understanding that should be provided to anyone who walks through our hospital or clinic doors. Regrettably, I’ve seen first-hand when patients, desperately seeking help and treatment, present to hospital and, rather than receiving compassion and acceptance, are instead met with critical judgment and indifference to their struggles.
This begs the question of why. Is it due to the stigma associated with addictions and mental health? Is it a potential unconscious desensitization related to the world around us? Or does the problem lie within? Whether big or small, every one of us struggles with our own issues, both internally and externally. Being a nurse does not make us immune to that.
It’s OK to recognize that you need help
Throughout the pandemic and the many ongoing worldwide and nursing crises, we can probably recognize that there have been times when we’ve had our own need for help. In those situations, it’s easy to let our own struggles and needs infiltrate our mind, making it nearly impossible to think clearly, empathize with those struggling themselves, and put the needs of others before ourselves.
But above all, regardless of how overwhelming and all-encompassing it can seem, in those instances we must first take a step back and remember that it’s OK not to be OK. It’s OK to struggle and question things in life. It’s OK to recognize that maybe we aren’t doing well and need help ourselves. And critically, that recognition in our own self that we might not be OK in that moment could be just what we need to return to our empathic selves.
We’ve all been hit hard on so many levels from so many different streams that it’s easy to forget that each patient’s situation is intensely individualized and everyone is affected differently. It used to be that empathy was something we provided in abundance. But when we’re burned out ourselves, in so many regards, it can be easy to forget what it’s like to empathize with our patients. It can be easy to think, “Well, I’ve been through so much myself and I’ve gotten through it, so why can’t you?” Or perhaps we’re still struggling ourselves, which clouds our ability to provide the high-quality patient care that is expected of us by both the community at large and within ourselves as professionals.
When we’re pushed to the brink of moral distress, it can be difficult to regain that spark in us that we once thrived on. But now more than ever, as we continue to rebuild our lives post-COVID and within the context of many ongoing crises, it’s critical that we remember why we chose to become a nurse in the first place. Our desire to help. Our desire to care. Our desire to be the one with whom people feel safe and comfortable and, above all, the one whom they can trust with their life when they’re at their lowest.
Every patient deserves professional care
This is even more important when it comes to the area of addictions and mental health, an area of nursing that, unfortunately, still holds so much stigma. When a patient comes in with an addiction or mental health issue, it’s not because they’re weak or they easily succumb to the pressures of life. It’s because addiction and mental health disorders are just as much a disease as something you’d encounter in any other area of the hospital. The only difference is the area of the body that it affects.
Every patient, regardless of their internal or external struggle, deserves our professional love, care, compassion and empathy, not treatment that differs depending upon the diagnosis and certainly not depending on our own state of mind. It would be unfathomable to think that someone who seeks help due to a worsening drug addiction would be disregarded, judged, or given substandard care because of preconceived notions that everyone is struggling and experiencing hardships these days, and that people should know better than to continue using drugs when such substances kill so many.
As hard as it is to grasp that someone would voice these thoughts, the unfortunate reality is that these notions occasionally come up in practice. Although they may not have been communicated directly to the patient, they can be quite evident to the patient based on the care they receive. This can result in devastating effects on the patient — from sadness, to anger, to feelings of confusion, guilt and hopelessness, all of which contribute to a negative patient experience, poor treatment outcomes, and the potential for abandoning health-care resources and not seeking help in the future.
However, not all is lost, because at the heart of nursing is our ability and desire to care. Despite the burdens nurses are faced with these days, we still have that empathy within us. Otherwise, why else would we still be pursuing the profession we love despite all the struggles we’ve realized over the years?
Empathy is still there. It’s still in us. It’s not something to be pushed to the wayside because we think someone should be able to cope with their individual concerns alone. But if you do find yourself feeling this way, it’s possible that, to some extent, you may be struggling within and unconsciously reflecting that internal struggle back upon your patients.
With this consideration, it becomes critical that we all take a moment to step back and assess our own minds. Have we forgotten what it’s like to empathize with our patients? Or maybe, better yet, the first question we should be asking ourselves is “Am I OK?” Because as much as our patients will always come first, we must remember that it’s just as important to take care of ourselves too.
Teryn Warnke, RN, is an assistant head nurse in adult acute psychiatry at Alberta Hospital Edmonton.
#opinions
#addictions
#clinical-practice
#equity-social-justice
#mental-health
#nurse-patient-relationship
#nurses-health-and-well-being
#stigma