Stress is part of life, and urology nurses are no exception

Of all the occupations listed in O*NET OnLine, urology was the most stressed, the London-based Independent newspaper reported in 2016. O*NET OnLine bills itself as the “primary source of occupational information” in the United States. Ben Challacombe, BSc, MBBS, a urologic surgeon at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospital in London, commented on the article in Trends in Urology & Men’s Health. “Urologists are fundamentally nice people and this is why I chose it as a career, but this strength is also a weakness when it comes to stress,” Dr. Challacombe wrote. “We just can’t say no to things.”

The topic of stress and urology again surfaced in a Urology Times “Speak Out” article by Karen Nash in February 2017. When asked three randomly chosen urologists to comment on the biggest stressor in their office, their responses included getting through a clinic day, dealing with insurance companies, and handling patients who experience complications.

These two articles on led me to wonder what the primary stressors in urology nursing might be. To find out, I asked a few colleagues to share their urology nursing stressors with us. Their responses follow.

“The biggest stressor for me and my staff would be not having the equipment needed to do the job! As everywhere, you learn to do work-arounds. My hospital is small and we only have so many sets of equipment, so you carefully plan and time all the procedures that need to be done for that day.”

-Fran Foley, RN, Worcester, MA

“My stressor is people not showing or coming late for the 1-hour urodynamics study, which makes my schedule run late for the rest of the day.”

-Cheryl LeCroy, RN, Richmond, VA

“My greatest stressor is seeing more patients in less time allotted.”

-Gina Powley, NP, St Louis.

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