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How to Stay Healthy If You Work in the Hospital

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nurse holding patient's hand

You’ve just been hired for a new job in healthcare. Your new position involves working in a hospital in your area. It doesn’t matter whether you are working as a doctor, as a nurse, as a therapist, as a medical coder, or as a receptionist in patient scheduling or patient registration. If you work in a hospital, and you interact with patients at any level throughout the day, you have to take steps to keep yourself healthy, not only for the sake of your patients, but for the sake of yourself, your friends, and your family members as well. Staying healthy means walking a fine line between balancing your responsibilities in terms of caring for other people’s health with taking care of your own health. The unfortunate truth is that you have a lot working against you. Since the vast majority of patients are sick people, since they are coming to the hospital, this means exposing yourself to numerous communicable diseases and conditions, especially if you interact with patients, as well as other staff members.

Here are some things you can do to try to minimize your risk of getting sick in the hospital (and consequently becoming a patient yourself):

Hospital Work Can Be Stressful

If you are new to working in a hospital, it means not only opening yourself up to potential physical illnesses but also opening yourself up to potential mental issues as well, in the form of stress. Although for some positions, a stressful job with long work hours typically “goes with the territory,” so to speak, some jobs are more stressful than others, especially in the hospital setting.

Work stress is associated with a number of physical and medical issues, including:

  • Weight gain, possibly leading to obesity.
  • Stomach problems.
  • High blood pressure.
  • Headaches or migraines, depending on your stress level.
  • Fatigue or insomnia.
  • High cholesterol.
  • Worsening health conditions that may already exist, apart from working in the hospital setting.

Stress on the job is also associated with mental health issues such as:

  • Inability to focus.
  • Irritability.
  • Depression.
  • Anxiety.
  • Isolationism.
  • Drug and alcohol use.

If you work in a hospital, you may be more susceptible to the effects of stressful situations, especially if your work involves caring for patients in life-or-death situations.

Maintaining healthy exercise and eating habits can help you minimize the effects of physical illness and work-related stress, especially if your stress involves making decisions on behalf of patients in crucial situations where time is of the essence. Maintaining a healthy personal life outside of work can also help you operate at maximum efficiency when you’re on the job. Starting a new job in a new hospital means a fresh opportunity to start off right. 

woman doing meditation at park during sunrise

Also consider doing deep breathing exercises, meditation, yoga, and other relaxation techniques to stay balanced, focused, stress-free (to the greatest extent possible), and most of all, on track, even if you do not work directly with patients.

Maintain a healthy social life outside of your job, that doesn’t conflict with your work schedule. Take a vacation by yourself if you choose to, without family members or friends at the beach or on a faraway resort, just to unwind, regroup, regather, and refocus.

For more informative articles on healthcare, visit the Avidity Medical Design blog.

To enroll in an online course in healthcare, visit Avidity Medical Design Academy.

The Surprising Link Between Poor Oral Health and Heart Problems

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You try to stay relatively healthy while eating right and exercising occasionally. But did you know that oral health plays a major role in our overall health as well? It turns out that poor oral health can affect your entire body, including your heart.

The relationship between poor oral health and heart problems is an issue that seems to be validated by numerous studies. Although the reasons are not entirely clear, researchers have some evidence-based beliefs about how it might happen. So let’s take a look at how poor oral health might lead to heart problems down the line.

Poor Oral Health May Lead to Bacterial Infection

One study found that poor oral health might lead to bacterial infection. These bacteria can travel through the body and then seep into the bloodstream, over time. Researchers think that the same bacteria that causes gingivitis and periodontitis can also cause inflammation and damage to our blood vessels. As a result, tiny blood clots might develop, which can in turn lead to a heart attack or a stroke.

The same study found a correlation between gum disease, heart disease, and smoking. This was a study that examined almost a million people and at least 65,000 cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks. The study found that there was a link between tooth loss and heart problems. However, this study also found that smoking was also just as strong (if not a stronger) predictor of cardiovascular problems as was tooth loss.

Still, other studies have found links between gum disease and heart disease, tooth loss, coronary artery disease, and high blood pressure. And it’s not just heart problems that seem linked to oral health.

They’ve also found links between diabetes, pancreatic cancer, and rheumatoid arthritis and heart problems. More research is needed to further illuminate the connections, but we do know that taking good care of your oral health is a safe bet.

Brushing, flossing and regular dental appointments can go a long way towards influencing your oral and overall health for the better.

For more informative articles on a variety of healthcare subjects, visit the Avidity Medical Design blog.

To enroll in an online healthcare course, visit Avidity Medical Design Academy.

Five Ways Working the Night Shift Impacts Your Health (And How to Handle It) :-)

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Working the night shift is never easy. If this is something you have to do regularly, you may begin to see some negative effects on both your physical and mental health. Here are five of the biggest ways the night shift might impact you, and what you can do to take care of yourself while working these difficult hours.

Social Isolation

Working nights means that your schedule will almost never be in sync with the work schedule of your friends and family, which can lead to feelings of depression, loneliness, and isolation. While it can be easy to push social engagements low on your priorities list, it is important to make time to spend with the people you care about. Just inviting friends over to catch up and watch a movie can help you feel connected and, as a result, can drastically improve your mental and emotional health.

female nurse smiling

Insomnia

Although fatigue frequently comes with overnight work, this doesn’t mean you’ll be able to fall asleep as soon as you get home. In fact, insomnia is a common problem for people who work overnight shifts, due to a disruption in your circadian rhythm. If you can, invest in blackout curtains and wear sunglasses on your commute home at the end of your shift. Exercising regularly, wearing ear plugs or listening to white noise, and keeping to the same daily sleep schedule, if possible, can all help you avoid insomnia.

Weight Gain

Stress, lack of time, and fatigue are all factors that can lead to unhealthy behavior and weight gain, especially if you work the night shift. If you are exhausted, the last thing you want to do is cook a meal from scratch. Meal prepping and batch cooking are excellent ways to ensure you’ll always have access to a quick and healthy meal, and snacks like trail mix and jerky can help you avoid getting snacks from the vending machine in the wee hours of the morning, while you’re taking breaks on the night shift. 

Depression

Even if you make an effort to spend time with friends, overnight work can severely impact your mental health. Along with fatigue and poor diet and exercise habits, lack of sunlight can be very detrimental to your mental health. If your schedule allows, try to get some natural sunlight before you report to work. If not, using a sunlamp when you wake up can help you combat feelings of depression caused by a nocturnal schedule.

Stress

All of the health problems caused by overnight work can lead to high levels of stress. Chronic stress is always a drain on the body, so it is important to make a conscious effort to find ways to relax. This could mean meditating, drawing, drinking tea—find the things that calm you down, and make them a priority.

Overnight work is challenging, but the more you know about the health risks involved in working the night shift, and how to stay healthy when you work the night shift, the better you’ll be able to take care of yourself. For more helpful tips on different areas of healthcare, be sure to visit our blog.

3 Ways a New Work Environment Can Impact Your Health (and What You Can Do About it)

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You may be wondering how your new career in the healthcare field will affect your life. But have you thought about how your new work environment can impact your health? CNN reported in the article, “A bad work environment can be bad for your health”, that there was a direct impact on stress level and risk of cardiac disease based on an employee’s work environment. Therefore, what are some health hazards and ways that you can maintain your health while transitioning to your new job?

Not Enough Hours in the Day

It’s all too common to be understaffed and overworked, especially in the healthcare environment. You may feel that you need to forego taking a break, avoid eating lunch, or eat lunch on the run, in order to get everything done. While scarfing down your lunch on the run may seem like a better option than skipping lunch altogether, you may have some health concerns that come from eating on the go. Indigestion, nausea and bloating may have you reaching for a Tums or some Pepto-Bismol, for example. A better option would be to force yourself to sit down and take 30 minutes to an hour to eat lunch. If you finish early, enjoy those few moments of peace, resisting the urge to get more work done during this time.

No Personal Space

Sometimes, the lines can become blurred when it comes to separating your work life from your home life. If you work from home, it can be hard to balance the two while keeping them separate from one another. The mental toll that this takes can leave you drained emotionally as you obsess about work duties while neglecting interests and hobbies that you once enjoyed. Take back your personal life. If you have a home office, keep work in the office space and during office hours only. Make it a priority to spend time doing the things you enjoy or spending time with family and friends. 

man coding on desktop computer
Cropped image of It specialist working on code

Intense and/or Repetitive Physical Exertion

Are your daily work tasks leaving you achy and physically exhausted at the end of the day? Back and neck strain, carpal tunnel syndrome and migraine headaches are some potential side effects, especially when you are at your desk most of the day, or your job is especially stressful. Learn about ergonomics and body mechanics and incorporate both of these into your daily routine at work. Get out of your chair and stretch at least once every hour that you are at work. If your job has you on your feet all day, sit down, stretch your legs, rotate your feet and ankles, and elevate your feet in the breakroom to improve circulation. 

As you consider a new career in the medical field, check out these courses that Avidity Medical Design Academy offers to help you succeed on the job and in your personal life.