Is Crisis Nursing the Right Job for You?

Is Crisis Nursing the Right Job for You?

by | Feb 22, 2021 | Blog, Nursing Careers | 0 comments

If you consider yourself highly empathetic, adaptable, and patient, crisis nursing might be the right field for you. This ever-growing nursing niche involves administering care to patients experiencing issues with mental health, substance abuse, trauma and co-occurring disorders. Each day, crisis nurses hop into action to help de-escalate and diffuse crisis situations while providing essential medical care, proving that some heroes wear scrubs, not capes. But we already knew that!

Before you determine whether this is the right nursing job for you, you want to figure out what crisis nursing is all about and do a deep dive into some of the things these patient professionals do daily. Read information on crisis nursing and discover some of the key skills, traits, and qualifications below to help you determine if you should become a crisis nurse.

What Is a Crisis Nurse?

To put it simply, crisis nurses work in situations of emotional turbulence and disturbance, such as when a person is depressed, suicidal, grieving, or displaced from their home. Additionally, crisis nurses are often asked to travel to provide care after natural disasters and health care emergencies, such as during a particularly destructive hurricane or during the COVID-19 pandemic.

These nurses are adaptable enough to fit in where needed and can help address some of the unique challenges of patients suffering through a crisis, from grief and suicidal thoughts to traumas such as job loss and homelessness. Like standard travel nursing assignments, crisis nursing jobs typically last for 13 weeks, but they can be anywhere from eight and 26 weeks long, depending on the specific needs of the area.

Yes, It Pays More

So does crisis nursing come with a monetary incentive? Yep! Because of their willingness to adapt, travel, and work in turbulent situations, crisis nurses earn a higher salary than nurses who work in non-crisis environments. In fact, many nurses in these roles earn something called a “crisis rate” or “crisis pay” which can be up to $20 more per hour than the standard rate for the hospital.

This makes crisis nurses among the highest-paid nurses. But higher pay doesn’t automatically mean a better situation. As we learned from the measurable spike in nurse burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic, crisis environments can take a serious toll on health care professionals. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re willing to hop in where needed and know how to manage feelings of burnout, the additional pay may be worthwhile.

How Do You Become a Crisis Nurse?

The required qualifications of crisis nursing vary widely from one system to the next, but all employers require you to start out by obtaining your registered nurse (RN) degree and license through an accredited nursing program. From there, you may be required to complete at least a year of related work experience in a role within psychiatric, addiction, or mental health. You’ll also want to prepare yourself for the potential of periodically relocating and how that could affect your personal life and housing.

Qualities Required of a Crisis Nurse

All RNs know that even non-crisis nurses occasionally face crises in virtually every health care environment. It just comes with the territory of working in medicine and no one should become a nurse without understanding that. With that being said, crisis nurses are specially trained in things such as de-escalation, passive non-compliance, and trauma-informed care. Some of the key personality traits required for these skill sets include:

  • The willingness to be ready for anything. Because of the aforementioned crisis pay, these kinds of nursing positions are highly competitive and get snatched up quickly. One of the key characteristics of a successful crisis nurse is his or her ability to drop everything and spring into action to fill a vacancy.
  • Empathy. Crisis nurses can’t just be in it for the money. They have to be willing to relate to what patients and their families are going through in order to provide adequate care. Empathy is key for nurses because it helps them build trust with patients and in turn strengthens communication, which is extremely critical during those essential crisis moments.
  • Interpersonal skills. Knowing how to communicate with others—especially those who are in states of crises—is crucial to helping people in these scenarios because it helps with de-escalation, motivation, and understanding key indicators of broader issues. Plus, like having empathy, it helps patients and their family members trust you so that you can provide adequate care.
  • Physical fortitude. All nurses need to be able stay on their feet—and their toes—for long shifts, but a good pair of comfortable nursing clogs are designed to help those working in crisis scenarios. This field puts nurses in the most demanding and busy workplaces, so physical endurance is key.
  • Adaptability. One of the many things we learned during the COVID-19 pandemic is that health care systems require extremely flexible and adaptable staff during crisis situations. For example, as many individuals opted out of elective surgery, the demand for critical care nursing grew and nurses had to hop into the chaos wherever they were needed.
  • Good judgment. Things move fast in crisis scenarios, and providing successful patient care requires nurses who are able to think critically on their toes, making good decisions along the way. They need to know how to respond and when to bring in additional resources.
  • The willingness to support your coworkers. Being a team player is absolutely essential in crisis nursing when things are changing rapidly and there isn’t always enough support. The willingness to dive right in and assist where needed is especially important in situations where you’re brand-new to the environment and your coworkers may not automatically be comfortable leaning on you.

 

A Rewarding Nursing Niche

You already know that our communities are facing a large, looming nursing shortage, and it’s likely that the shortage will involve a lack of nurses trained in crisis and trauma. For nurses who want to work directly with the community and make a measurable difference in their patients’ lives each day, crisis nursing is a fantastic opportunity!

The Art of De-escalation in Managing Aggressive Patients and Emotional Reactivity

The Art of De-escalation in Managing Aggressive Patients and Emotional Reactivity

by | Sep 9, 2019 | Blog, Nursing Careers | 0 comments

The art of de-escalation is an invaluable tool developed primarily to defuse hostile individuals and situations. In its original usage, the concept of de-escalation implies the existence of both verbal and non-verbal skills and techniques which, if used selectively and appropriately, may reduce the level of an aggressor’s hostility and emotional reactivity.

Although violent incidents may come from a variety of different sources, aggressive and hostile patients appear to be the largest source of workplace violence in the healthcare setting (OSHA, 2015). In 2013, 80 percent of the serious violent incidents reported were primarily caused by interactions with patients in the clinical setting (OHSA, 2015).

Since potential aggressive incidents is an acute behavioral emergency that frequently require immediate intervention, qualified nurses must be prepared to utilize the following de-escalation skills and techniques to promote patient safety and staff protection.

1. Maintain a Calm Demeanor

Maintaining a calm demeanor and intervening early with less restrictive measures, such as verbal and non-verbal communication, reduced stimulation, active listening, diversionary techniques, and limit setting can help relax the patient and promote a culture of structure, calmness, negotiation and collaboration, rather than control.  If nurses remain calm and cooperative, the patient will most likely mirror their behavior.

2. Practice Active Listening

While most nurses are often tempted to retaliate when dealing with an aggressive patient, active listening and watching for nonverbal cues may be helpful in the de-escalation process. Active listening is pivotal in pre-empting an angry outburst by looking for, or listening to paraverbal communication that is tone, inflection, and volume.

Since most patients that arrive at the hospital are fearful or anxious, it is not uncommon for some patients to utilize anger or aggression as a coping mechanism. Therefore, nurses should utilize active listening as a tool to help comfort and reassure patients that they are invested in their safety and recovery.

3. Provide Patients an Opportunity to Vent

After actively listening to the patient, nurses must be able to offer thoughtful comments that demonstrate an awareness of the patient’s unique feelings and concerns. By offering patients an opportunity to vent, it allows the nurses and patients to work collaboratively and address underlying issues.

When a patient appears to be upset or is demonstrating early signs of anger, it is imperative for nurses to substantiate what they see or hear, so that the patient feels validated. Often times, nurses are accustomed to telling patients what to do, that they forget to provide patients an opportunity to sufficiently express themselves. Therefore, when nurses provide patients a chance to vent, it not only provides patients an opportunity to voice out their frustrations but also diminishes the likelihood of physical violence to ensue.

4. Display a Non-Defensive Posture 

Another important technique that must be considered when de-escalating an aggressive and hostile patient is displaying a non-defensive posture. By keeping the hands in front of the body, open and relaxed, and maintaining appropriate eye contact, it illustrates authenticity and compassion towards the individual. While proper eye contact is subjective however, it is imperative not to stare.

Since a nurse’s reaction can greatly influence the emotional reactivity of highly dysregulated patients, the nurse must maintain a neutral expression at all times. By remaining calm and sustaining a neutral appearance, patients are less likely to overreact allowing nurses to regain control of the situation.

5. Impart Empathy and Compassion

Lastly, nurses should also be able to properly express their concern by conveying empathy and compassion towards the patient. The art of empathy and compassion helps reassure patients that they are not alone. Paraphrasing can be an effective tool in de-escalating a patient because it not only communicates empathy but also demonstrates understanding. By using phrases such as “I understand how difficult this can be for you,” nurses can connect with patients much more effectively which can help facilitate the healing process by re-establishing trust and rapport.

Resolution Stage

Once the patient is successfully de-escalated, the nurse is then responsible for settling any unresolved feelings or concerns the patient may hold. During the resolution stage, the nurse should identify how the patient would like their anger to be dealt with if and when a similar situation recurs. During this time, the nurse should work collaboratively with the patient to re-establish therapeutic rapport and ensure all feelings and concerns are individually validated.

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