As critical care nurses and social media advocates for nurse wellness, Anna Rodriguez and Christiaan Letsinger understand how easy it is for nurses to burn out when they’re putting their patients before themselves. In this conversation, Anna and Christiaan discuss mechanisms for managing work-life balance and share how their own challenges with chronic illness have led them to advocate for better self-care.
Anna Rodriguez:
You were working two jobs for a while.
Christiaan Letsinger:
Yes.
Anna:
What was that like?
Christiaan:
When I started, I thought, "I'm going to work all these hours. I'm going to become a super nurse." Instead, what happens when you're working night shift 70 hours a week, you start not to be able to retain information. Your life basically becomes work then sleep, because you're doing 12-hour shifts. Sometimes they're 14 to 16 hours. I enjoyed it for a time but then started having my own health issues. I eventually stepped down from the second job, so I'm not coming in exhausted and already mentally fatigued before the shift even starts.
Anna:
Yes.
Christiaan:
Saying no and learning how to take care of yourself, that's where your focus is with your social media platform.
Anna:
That's something I got really passionate about after I did two years as a CVICU manager. I realized pretty quickly that that role was not going to be the best place for me mentally, physically. I was struggling. But in that process, I realized I have a hard time separating work and life. I bring things home with me. I would think about stressful conversations I'd have to have the next day with one of my staff members. It would keep me awake at night. My mind was spinning. I was distracted, and I wasn't present. My husband said, "I don't know if this is going to be the best thing for you. Are you really happy? You don't want to be a failure?"
I got to the point where I recognized that I was going to do better getting back to the bedside and being more in that supportive role. I also wanted to start talking about burnout, because looking back there are things I could have done differently. Now with social media, I try and promote the nurse wellness aspect of things. Telling people if you want to become that resilient nurse, there are things that you can be doing proactively. Or, if you think you're getting burned out, there are signs and symptoms to watch for. If you're seeing those things in others, it's important to call each other out, too. That's what I focus on now, but then also practicing what I preach.
I'm doing endoscopy where it's procedural nursing, which is a different twist. It's all day-shift. It's no holidays, weekends. It feels like a different world than ICU and less stressful. I love being with patients. I love being a nurse, and what's nice is there are hundreds of ways to be a nurse.
Christiaan:
Yeah. No role is worth your mental health, your physical health. At the end of the day, if you're not able to take care of yourself, you can't take care of someone else.
Anna:
Yes.
Christiaan:
If you're finding that you're reaching that point, there are so many avenues that you can go. Finding something that makes you happy.
Anna:
The last two years I've been dealing with GI issues and was just diagnosed with Crohn's disease. Trying to process that from the patient end of things, it's weird.
Christiaan:
I was diagnosed with diabetes, an autoimmune form of diabetes where basically my immune system is shutting down my pancreas. This is the rest of my life. This is what I have to deal with. For you, it’s Crohn's.
Anna:
In a weird way, it's nice to be able to relate to my patients and be able to tell them, "I've had two colonoscopies now. You’ve got this. It's going to be OK."
Christiaan:
I'm a firm believer that it's the little things you do for people that will make all the difference. Maybe I can find ways to connect with people on this and let them know that they're not alone. When someone comes in with a new diagnosis, I'm saying like, "Dude, I do understand what you're feeling, what's going on right now, because I'm so new to this too," and building a deeper connection with my patients.
These interviews are provided courtesy of StoryCorps, a national nonprofit whose mission is to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world. www.storycorps.org