Nurses and healthy relationships

It starts in nursing school and rolls over into our daily career work. Being a nurse is tough, it’s demanding and exhausting. We give our all to our job and to our patients, unfortunately sometimes we don’t have anything left to ‘give’ at home with our loved ones.

Our relationships are strained because our significant other may not understand that just because our shifts end at a certain time doesn’t actually mean we’ll be leaving at that time. We are equally as guilty when we don’t have the patience when our loved ones just ‘don’t get it.’

In the end, your job and your career are not where you hang your heart. Your home, your family and all those who matter to you deserve the same dedication that you give your job. The crazy thing is, if we started to handle and treat our loved ones the same way we treat our job and our patients, the so-called ‘strain’ would disappear.

Here are a few tips for keeping your relationships ‘healthy’ by treating those you love like you treat your patients.

• You were born with two ears and one mouth

You should listen twice as much as you speak. I think we all learned this in Nursing 101 – therapeutic communication (sound familiar?). Listen to what your loved one has to say before you decide to interject with your opinion. You’d be surprised what they have to say.

Next: Speak on their level. Equality is stronger than brutality…