Managing Stress at Work for Medical Staff
I think the first of the year is prime time for work frustration and dissatisfaction. People are trying to get used to the idea of going back to work after the holidays, or still resenting the fact that they didn’t get time off over the holidays. There are stresses built into systems and organizations where we work, and there are individual vulnerabilities inside each of us. Improvements in either of these areas can make a huge difference in how we experience work.
The performance of medical staff, for example, seems to improve as the staff are able to address a few basic emotional questions. I want to discuss those questions here. Maybe I can focus on other occupations in future posts.
I want to point out that when I call them “basic” questions, I mean that they are important, universal, and foundational, not necessarily easy or trivial.
What right do I have to be here?
The “impostor syndrome” is that feeling that if other people only knew my faults like I did, I would be “found out” and have to leave. What do I do about the fact that I have faults and short-comings, even bad habits? When taken together as a whole picture, warts and all, am I still acceptable, even valuable here? Or am I just lucky no one has noticed yet? If I have settled this question, I can be properly assertive and focus on the task at hand instead of being anxious.
David Hamilton
