Working in healthcare is dangerous for your health, said Daniel Johnson, PhD, staff psychologist at Mercer Health Systems in Macon, GA. The profession is dangerous because of the huge number of daily challenges that staff face (e.g., the responsibility of caring for seriously ill people, lack of support, shift conflicts, resource constraints). These challenges can accumulate and affect staff's resilience to stress and strain.

Resiliency is the ability to bounce back from the bends and stretches of life, said Johnson in his presentation, "Getting the most from your staff: Create and maintain a resilient work team," during the 2005 Nursing Management Congress held in October in Orlando, FL.

The daily challenges experienced by nurses can develop into stress, which has a negative effect on staff's health. However, if you help your staff develop resiliency skills, they will be able to lessen the effects of stress.

Key skills for resiliency
Johnson highlighted the following three skills managers should possess to help staff become more resilient:

• Skill #1: Take responsibility for a positive attitude. We all have an attitude, whether good or bad, and we all have the ability to choose our attitude. It is this attitude that affects what we feel. Johnson recommended that people make conscious efforts to choose their attitudes each day. Recognize the situations that matter, and ignore everything else.

  Bad things happen, he noted, and it's important not to deny your emotions. But it's also important to recognize that we can control how worried or unhappy we become. "Be upset to an appropriate [degree]," he said.

• Skill #2: Recognize and eliminate stress. Life is stressful and always will be, but too much stress can cause our bodies to react negatively (e.g., with increased muscle tension, heart rate, blood pressure). Employees with stress are more likely to make mistakes and suffer from health problems, Johnson said. Encourage employees to find ways to provide outlets for their stress (e.g., through meditation, yoga, exercise, or relaxation exercises). Stress relief allows the body to return to normal.

• Skill #3: Learn to enjoy life. We all have the capability to be resilient to the challenges of life, but we may not protect our resiliency. When our supply of energy runs out, we are susceptible to burnout and depression.

Johnson recommended having employees make a list of all the things they like to do. Encourage them to write down as many things as they can think of in a minute or two. Then ask them to put a check mark next to those things that they have done in the past week. If employees have done few of these activities recently, they are in danger of burning out and are displaying little resiliency. He noted that people frequently say they don't have the time or energy to do something fun, but he says it's important to create our own motivation. "Every day you must have fun," he said.

His next most important secret is to feel like you accomplished something each day. On days during which work goes badly and you find yourself ac-
complishing little, create something else in which to find accomplishment. This could be finishing a book you always wanted to read, or doing a mundane household chore. "Ask yourself two questions at bedtime. Did I get something done and did I do something fun?" he said.

Editor's note: For more strategies on dealing with stress and relaxation techniques, visit Johnson's Web site at www.lessonsforliving.com. Contact Johnson via e-mail at dan@lessonsforliving.com.

Source: Adapted from Patient Care Staffing Report, December 2005, HCPro, Inc.