Nurses are under loads of pressure to manage time, provide excellent care, listen, and help others cope. There is a need to document progress, or a lack of progress, towards patient goals. Add to this the demands of mechanical interventions, equipment, and complexities of care, and you have a human attempting to withstand huge pressure and remain capable and strong enough to "deal" with it for 12 hours straight. The work is also empowering, interesting and rewarding... but how do we cope to prevent burnout?

I have included some wonderful decompression artwork that inspired me to start this conversation. Please feel free to add to the content by sharing your ideas, humor, artwork, and coping efforts.