Common Stressors in the ICU

We all went into nursing knowing that it wouldn’t be easy, and knowing we were going to have to work our butts off every single day. There are so many different types of stressors we experience as nurses. I started working in the ICU as a new grad one month before covid started. In the beginning, my stress included: finding the unit in the hospital, showing up on time, not making my preceptor mad, the potential of messing something up, managing my time appropriately, knowing the medications I was giving my patients, and learning a COMPLETELY different world than what they teach you in nursing school. As I started getting more confident, these wore off; but I was certainly not stress free.

I was challenged every single day. They were starting to expect more out of me. I was given harder assignments, sicker patients, and was even placed in charge and on the RRT phone. I thought, are they serious?! Do they not know how much stress and pressure I’m already feeling? I barely felt like a nurse, I felt like an imposter; yet they kept treating me like I was advancing just fine through my career, even though I felt the opposite. The stress of having someone’s life in your hands compares to nothing else. It is an honor to take care of these patients every day, but I certainly was not stress free.

​Stressors come in all forms, and most people think that the most stress comes from the technical parts of the jobs; like the things I was feeling in the beginning. Making sure your patients are getting what they need, advocating for them, advocating for your staff. But one stressor that most people do not think comes with the job is the care of the patient's family, because this is a huge part of the job. We are caring for their loved ones, and they are also feeling stressed. It is our job to help them get through this hard time as well, which takes a toll on nurses. We seem to get the brunt of the complaints. “Why hasn’t the doctor been by to see my mom?”, “The food here is horrible, is there no way we can get anything else for my grandfather?” “These blankets are so scratchy; you must have something better”. As nurses, we turn into maids, housekeepers, dietary, doctors, and it becomes a hotel service. This is all part of the nursing world but can create stress knowing we really have nothing to do with the food, the blankets, or the doctors on time arrival to the room.

​Unfortunately, there are many stressors with our job that should not fall on our shoulders. The biggest one? STAFFING. This is such a controversial topic in the world of nursing today. Logically, this should not be a problem; but it is a problem every single day while nurses walk through the front doors of their hospital. I have continuous anxiety about walking into work for this specific reason. I have been an ICU nurse for three years, and I still feel this way on my drive to work. You never know what you’re going to walk into. Will I have three patients who are circling the drain? Will I have a four patient overflow assignment? Will I have the code bed on top of my assignment? Will I have to take three patients as charge? Unfortunately, this is something that we cannot always control, but I certainly was not stress free.

​Another stressor we face is the hours we work. Realistically, three twelve-hour shifts in one week for full time is amazing! We only work three days a week. BUT! Those twelve-hour shifts are extremely long, exhausting, and typically turn into thirteen- or fourteen-hour shifts depending on charting, emergencies, etc. A lot of people are not used to working twelve-hour shifts. This causes your mind and your body an extreme amount of stress. Something even worse? When you have 10-12 hours off in between and must come back again, for three total! And if you want to work overtime? Even worse.

​Finally, we have the awkward topic of nursing COMPENSATION. I think we can all agree that nurses do not get paid enough. Do we make a good living? Yes. But with the cost of living and how hard we work; we are not compensated appropriately. This may cause nurses to feel the need to pick up extra overtime. We have families, debt, and homes to pay for. What we get paid is not enough, especially for a single income home. This was me. No matter what, I always needed more shifts. I went to school for a very long time, and I have a lot of student debt. The topic of money alone causes me enough stress to make me want to pull my hair out!

​Although all of these are stressors in the ICU and other units, along with many others, there needs to be a healthy way we are dealing with all of this! Whether it's exercise, relaxation, hobbies, friends, family, or significant others. All these things are so very important to fuel your heart and brain, physically and emotionally. All of these should be an outlet for you to help relax a little and allow the stress to disappear, even if it is for a short moment; because we all deserve to be stress free even when it is not possible.