Anxiety is one of the most prevalent types of emotional reactions that patients face. Fear and uncertainty tend to complicate a whole medical process, whether one is undergoing surgery or a diagnosis. One must deal with anxiety, else it may disrupt recovery and increase hospital stays or complications.
Nurses play a critical role in dealing with this anxiety. Moreover, they have a significant role in the overall patient experience. Nurses not only provide physical care but also make the patients feel understood, heard, and safe.
In this article, we shall discuss how nurses can assist in dealing with patient anxiety. Not only this, but also, the academic prospects of nursing students with respect to nursing dissertation topics are mentioned.
Practical Strategies Nurses Use to Reduce Patient Anxiety
There are a few things that they must keep in mind. These strategies are listed in this section. Have a look!
Establishing Trust Via Communication
Emotional safety in healthcare is based on trust. The patients of the professional nurses who interact well often feel relaxed as well as secure. This trust can be won by performing simple activities. These include smiling, referring to the patient using his or her name, or even asking about his or her well-being.
Educating Patients About Their Care
Most patients are anxious when they do not know what is going on. Nurses will assist in alleviating this anxiety through explaining the medical processes in simple words. They ensure that patients know what to expect and allow them time to ask their doubts. This makes the patients feel informed. Also, they feel that the situation is under control.
Offering Reassurance and Emotional Support
However, there are occasions when a nurse can do nothing better than listen. Nurses empathize with patients when they are afraid, sad, or frustrated. An emotional pain might be alleviated by discussing it in a caring way and making the patients feel less lonely. Even brief visits during the day may be a significant difference in the level of support a patient feels.
Creating a Calm and Safe Environment
Anxiety is intensified by the hospital environment. Patients may feel disturbed because of bright lights, noise, and interruptions. During the process of enhancing comfort, nurses should reduce the brightness of the lights, close the curtains, or request the visitors to speak in soft tones. It helps the patients to relax even by providing them with a warm blanket or setting up the bed.
Teaching Relaxation Techniques
Nurses can start the basic anxiety-soothing techniques. These are very old but effective. These include deep breathing techniques, guided imagery, or progressive muscle relaxation. It can be especially helpful to take them prior to surgery or painful treatment.
Involving Family and Support Networks
The presence of family members or close friends usually makes the patients feel more safe. Nurses may visit, assist in video calls, or inform loved ones about the state of their loved one. Patients improve their emotional support and decrease stress levels when a familiar voice or face is used during treatment.
Academic and Systemic Support for Anxiety Management
There are a lot of ways in which nurses can understand various ways to handle anxiety. Hence, in this section, a few of those are mentioned.
Researching About Anxiety for Projects
One of the good nursing dissertation topics is anxiety management. Students are able to learn various aspects of it. These include how communication influences the feeling of anxiety, or how relaxation methods or cultural aspects can contribute to patient stress. These subjects provide students with an opportunity to enhance care using evidence-based work.
Using Nursing Essay Writing Services
Anxiety is a topic that requires good research as well as thoughts in order to write about in nursing. The experts of a nursing essay writing service UK may assist the students. The experts know the format in which it has to be presented. They have expertise in handling such intricate projects. They not only research properly but also take care of structure, grammar, referencing, and clarity of the content. Thus, enabling students to compete well in their projects.
Training Nurses in Mental Health Skills
The training in mental health support is becoming a part of nursing courses. This will involve the ways to identify the signs of anxiety as well as the ways to act kindly and carefully. So, these courses teach students communication skills and psychological first aid. Not only this, but they also get to learn how to comfort the emotional patients.
Implementing Supportive Healthcare Policies
The healthcare systems also affect the nurse in terms of managing anxiety. There are several ways in which nurses can achieve high-quality care. It can be done by making good policies and safe staffing levels as well as continuous professional development. The hospitals encouraging mental health awareness usually report higher patient satisfaction and recovery rates.
Encouraging Interdisciplinary Collab
The nurses usually work with psychologists, social workers, and physicians in order to handle nervous patients. This is an interprofessional team. In simple words, patients can receive emotional, mental, and physical aid. Also, nurses helps in shaping the care and making sure that no aspect of the well-being of the patient is not taken care of.
Measuring and Evaluating Patient Anxiety
There are scales that measure anxiety. These are the GAD-7 (General Anxiety Disorder scale) and the HADS (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale). These measure the level of anxiety in a patient. Hence, hospitals are using it. The nurses gather and record the data via these. It helps in measuring the effectiveness and areas of improvement. Not only this, but also, these findings of the research assist the future practice better.
Final Thoughts
The nurses play a crucial role in reducing anxiety within hospitals and clinics. They can make patients feel secure and more confident throughout their medical experience. It is done with the help of effective communication, emotional support, and careful consideration. Not only do they contribute to the recovery, but they also enhance the overall experience of the patient.
In the case of nursing students, the area that is interesting and worth conducting research on is anxiety management. Students can start making a good contribution to the field by selecting and working on powerful nursing dissertation topics. The writing services can also be useful to those students in need of help in stating their ideas. Nurses will be able to remain on the forefront of both physical and emotional care to every patient with the right education, support, and healthcare policies.
