Mark your calendars for October 10, 2024—World Mental Health Day is here! This year’s theme, “It’s Time to Prioritize Mental Health in the Workplace,” is a call to action that resonates deeply, especially within the nursing community.

As frontline caregivers, you know better than anyone how crucial mental health is—not just for patients but for yourselves, your colleagues, and the entire healthcare system. The stresses of nursing, from long shifts to emotional challenges, can lead to issues like anxiety, burnout, and fatigue. When mental well-being is compromised, it doesn’t just affect your health; it impacts patient care, team morale, and the overall atmosphere of your workplace.

This World Mental Health Day, let’s take a moment to reflect on how we can foster a healthier work environment. It’s time for organizations to step up and create a culture that prioritizes mental health. That means implementing effective practices that support your well-being and empower you to take charge of your mental health.

We sat down with Jeannine Raymond

, RN, MS, chief nurse executive at Nursa, to discuss the pressures and hazards facing nurses around mental health, the role schedule flexibility plays, how health systems can identify nurse burnout before it progresses, and the benefits needed to keep nurses healthy. Our interview follows, edited for length and clarity.

What pressures and hazards have intensified for nurses due to the nursing shortage? 

Most people are very familiar with the typical challenges of nursing because they’re somewhat universal experiences: burnout, fatigue, and poor work-life balance. Where nurses differ is that other people’s lives are on the line when there are workforce shortages. Imagine the stress nurses endure in real-time when they know they’re understaffed and they’re facing a surge of patients entering the building and not exiting. A shortfall of clinicians during a shift and a lack of nursing resources to tap into puts quality and safety for everyone at risk. This leads many nursing professionals to feel not just emotionally drained but like they’re dangling at the end of their rope.

What can we do to lessen the burden placed on nurses? 

We can automate some workflows to reduce administrative burdens, mainly when it relieves nurses of monotonous tasks such as answering phone calls and providing patient updates to their families. There is so much tech out there that can help streamline operations and make things more efficient so that nurses are freed up to be more at the bedside.

What resources or support systems should be in place for nurses experiencing mental health challenges or burnout?

A big one for me is access to mentors and having a buddy system. Benefits should include mental health coverage and other Employee Assistance Program support, ensuring nurses have adequate outlets and help when needed. They offer free or subsidized access to counseling and create a culture of excellence emphasizing nurses’ well-being. Operationally, facilities should consider investing in predictive analytics to plan better how many nurses are needed. This type of tech allows staff to be rightsized to the volume.

How can health systems identify nurse burnout before it progresses? 

Managers should monitor callouts, which can significantly indicate that staff are struggling. More proactively, nurse leaders need to hold monthly town halls—at the minimum—to give nurses the opportunity to express concerns and share the biggest burdens they face and what’s keeping them up at night.

Can you discuss any specific training or education programs that aim to enhance mental health awareness and resilience among nursing staff?

It’s important to highlight the resources available during onboarding and orientation. I also can’t advocate enough for establishing a strong buddy system made up of nurse peers and more seasoned mentors. Nurses tend to eat their young; when I was a young nurse in critical care, many of the folks assigned to train me filled me with such fear that every question was a dumb one.

I still remember during my senior year of college when this woman was so annoyed to be assigned to me. I understand it better now: nurses are so busy and have no time to get everything done. On top of having to explain things, I get why she didn’t want to be slowed down. But I also remember how she made me feel in that moment, and I said, ‘I will never make someone feel that way.’ I’ve stayed true to that, even to this day, and share that story when I work with younger nurses. Creating a safe environment where nurses can get the solutions they need without fear of backlash or ridicule is crucial to success.

How can the leadership team actively encourage self-care and work-life balance for nursing staff during World Mental Health Day and beyond?

It starts with education about mental health and creating an environment where speaking up about mental challenges is encouraged. It can be as simple as hosting lunch-and-learns, awareness roundtables, or virtual seminars. They can also incentivize nurses and provide them with more flexibility in their schedule so they don’t have to worry about missing important moments like their kid’s back-to-school night or their school concert. If you give clinicians the tools and adaptability to balance work and family life, you’ll have much happier nurses.

Why schedule flexibility is so important to nurses? 

Giving nurses the room to determine what works for them ultimately leads to nurse retention. The average nurse has so much to juggle, from clinical workloads to caregiving duties at home and maybe even their own continuing education. If we want healthy, well-rounded nurses who can work to the top of their license, we’ve got to rethink staffing strategies to offer the flexibility they desperately need, want, and deserve.

How can organizations promote open communication and reduce stigma around mental health issues for nurses?

Getting the mental health conversation going is the first and most crucial step. Awareness days like World Mental Health Day are opportune moments to talk about mental health and burnout and encourage those who need support to feel empowered to ask for it. Most nurses aren’t just caregivers at work; they also have people who depend on them at home. We must recognize that they need an outlet from all the pressure and responsibility.

I was in oncology for three to six months, and you tend to get close to your patients’ families. When I wasn’t in scrubs, I was attending funeral services on my day off or respite relief for families with loved ones at home. A nurse’s job impacts real lives, and it is tough to detach from your patients when you spend more hours a week with them than with your own family.

What strategies should be in place to identify and address potential stressors or triggers that may impact the mental health of nurses? 

Implementing stress management training for all nurses can provide a foundation to help nursing staff learn practical techniques to mitigate risk and manage triggers. What about nurses who have experienced rape or other traumas and work in the ER and have to face someone coming in with those types of injuries and needs?

These real scenarios play out often in facilities all over the country and the world. Leaders need to compile a list, form a task force, and keep folks on call 24/7 to support fellow nurses when they are put in situations that may trigger their trauma.

Can you share success stories or positive outcomes from mental health initiatives targeted at nursing staff?

In my nursing practice, I was in the ICU for a while, where you end up burned out and feeling awful. You tend to forget the good things and focus on the doom and gloom. I observed an annual burn center celebration for survivors that allowed their clinicians to see their efforts were not in vain. Helping nurses reunite with someone they personally impacted to celebrate the patient’s success is a great way to alleviate some of the emotional burnout that plagues people in our field.

What advice or recommendations do you have for nurses to prioritize their mental health and well-being, not just during World Mental Health Day, but throughout the year?

Here’s a simple example. Did you know female nurses have a higher prevalence of urinary tract symptoms and infection than other occupations? They’re the least likely to hydrate and take bathroom breaks adequately. I don’t know any nurse who takes their actual break to eat their lunch, so implementing a float person or another resource that essentially mandates nurses step away from the bedside for an uninterrupted break is vital, even more so in critical care.

My colleagues and I neglected our health or fatigue even when we shouldn’t have. Nurses are not good at caring for themselves but great at caring for others. Sometimes, it takes someone else putting the right protocols and policies in place to ensure we’re forced to prioritize our own well-being.

What benefits are needed to keep nurses healthy?

Aside from robust mental health coverage, I think designating an area for nurses where they can step away could be incredibly beneficial. It should not just be a lunch spot but a protected space where they can practice meditation or access an app or on-demand video series that helps them re-center themselves and find some peace. We often see patients come out of the hospital with what we call “ICU psychosis,” where they have to reacclimate to regular life after having someone at their bedside every hour drawing blood, repositioning, taking vitals, medicating, etc. It can happen to nurses, too: I can’t tell you how often I heard the alarms in my sleep after a long shift. Accessing resources that pull us out before it’s too late doesn’t have to be complicated.

What kinds of programs should stakeholders create for nurses?

There is a significant ROI for stakeholders who give nurses choices by instituting self-scheduling and flexibility. And I’ve seen the benefits of creating patient/caregiver reunification or recognition programs. Investment in resources is fantastic, but the stakeholders need to ensure resource adoption. This is not a one-size-fits-all solution.

Another idea might be developing local ride-share rewards programs where nurses can access services like Uber if they’re too tired to drive. Offering discounts on childcare would be huge, along with anything that addresses other barriers to going to work, because for me, what always came first and foremost was ensuring my children were cared for. In general, I want to point out that it’s not about throwing money at the problem but creating partnerships within the community. Doing the legwork to secure grants and roll out awareness campaigns so nurses know what community resources are available could have a demonstrable impact.

Lastly, celebrating these programs’ success by allowing nurses to share how they have leveraged the tools and resources and influence the organizations to provide additional support. Nursing retention will dramatically improve as a result of these efforts.

The post Attention Nurses: It’s Time to Prioritize Mental Health in the Workplace! first appeared on Daily Nurse.