Stress is part of life, and urology nurses are no exception
SUNA President Gwendolyn Hooper, PhD, APRN, asked a few colleagues to share their urology nursing stressors.
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.
More from Urology Times:
APRNs, PAs can help achieve the ideal practice setting
Incontinence after RP or RT: Consider preventive measures first
Men’s health issues often extend beyond the physical
Subscribe to Urology Times to get monthly news from the leading news source for urologists.
Prior paid malpractice claims linked to increased risk of future claims
February 22nd 2023Based on 5- and 10-year study periods, physicians with single or multiple paid medical malpractice claims “were shown to have a greatly elevated risk of having additional paid claims during a future period,” the authors wrote.
Surprise billing regulation stuns providers, rejects congressional intent
November 17th 2021"The AACU joined 1 effort calling for the administration to remove the directive that arbiters anchor their determination to the qualifying payment amount, and instead let them consider all allowable information submitted by the parties to support their offer," says Ross E. Weber of the AACU.
