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Emergency Care Nurses - Coping With Occupational Related Stress

Emergency accident patient

Workplace stress has a negative impact on employees' health and the efficiency of the firm. Emergency room nurses are more vulnerable to stress than nurses in other departments. The constant organizational and technological changes affecting the healthcare industry make it more difficult for nurses working in emergency rooms to balance their workloads (ED). Job stress can harm nurses' physical and mental health, reduce their energy and productivity, and prevent them from providing the best nursing care, all of which adversely affect patient outcomes.

What is Occupational Related Stress?
For both patients and clinicians, emergency rooms are high-stress settings. Nurses encounter this stress on a regular basis as a member of the clinical team, and they are vulnerable to high levels of burnout, which has been linked to hypertension, depression, and anxiety. The existence of these illnesses may also lead to burnout, starting a vicious cycle of stress and disease.

An employee experiences occupational stress when elements associated with their employment interact with them, altering their psychological and physical state to the point that they are compelled to deviate from their usual behavior. Stress at work is a management concern. Employers must acknowledge that stress at work poses a serious threat to employee health and safety. 

How Nurses Can Cope With Occupational Related Stress
Here are some ways how you can cope with stress at work.

Eat Healthy Food
Foods can ease anxiety. Comfort foods like a bowl of heated oats promote serotonin, a calming brain chemical. Cortisol and adrenaline, two stress hormones that can harm the body over time, can be reduced by eating additional meals. A balanced diet helps stave off stress's impacts by boosting the immune system and lowering blood pressure. 

Do Things That Make You Happy
Make sure to schedule time for the activities that make you happy, whether they are reading a book, attending concerts, or spending time with your family. Effective stress management also depends on getting enough decent sleep. Build healthy sleep habits by limiting your caffeine intake late in the day and eliminating stimulating activities, such as computer and television use, at night.

Set Boundaries
Set some limits for yourself regarding your job and personal life. That could entail setting a rule against checking email while at home in the evening or refraining from taking calls while having dinner. Although everyone has a different preference for how much their professional and personal lives should overlap, setting up some distinct boundaries between the two can help to lessen the likelihood of stress-inducing work-life conflicts.

Get Help 
Accepting assistance from dependable friends and family members might help you be better at stress management. Through an employee support program, your nurse manager may also provide stress management tools, such as online resources, easily available counseling, and, if required, recommendations to mental health specialists.


Emergency room nurses are thought to have demanding jobs with high and complex demands. High job demands and a situation where there is an imbalance between power and responsibility have been recognized as some of the main causes of occupational stress among nursing personnel. There are several ways a nurse experiencing work-related stress can take care of oneself, including the ones indicated above.

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Photo Source: Emergency accident patient created by Wut.anunai of Freepik.com
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