• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

Tips from TSE: Stress-management strategies for students-and self

Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education, July 8, 2008

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education!

Stress is defined by the Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine as "the body's normal response to anything that disturbs its natural physical, emotional, or mental balance," and stress reduction refers to "various strategies that counteract this response and produce a sense of relaxation and tranquility." There are some straightforward and effective strategies that can make a big difference in the stress levels your students experience and the stress you fight as an educator.

The initial and most vital step is to allow your students (and yourself) to admit to stress, says Grissel Hernandez, MPH, BSN, RN, director of clinical education at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Pomona, NJ. "Be compassionate to that knowledge without feeling guilty," she says. "Don't feel like you're 'less than' because you're not going through it stress-free. All of us are stressed out at one moment or another."

Once you acknowledge and accept the stress, you must realize that while some stressors are unavoidable, you can choose how you react to tension. "We can't avoid stress from some areas, like The Joint Commission [formerly JCAHO], but what we have control over is how we choose to respond to it," Hernandez says. "The biggest problem we have is that we walk around with a grudge and don't learn to speak to other people."

Editor's note: This excerpt was taken from the July issue of The Staff Educator. Discover all the benefits of subscribing to The Staff Educator!

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education!

• Comment
• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive

Comments