Burnout and Meditation

Even in normal times, nursing is a stressful profession. But now, during the Covid-19 pandemic, stress and trauma have reached epidemic levels. Amy always wanted to be a nurse and she followed her dream into a deeply satisfying 40-year career. Bob recounts Amy's story and how she used meditation to overcome her own traumas and how she is now working to share this resource with nurses everywhere so they can continue to care for those in need.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Stay Calm as a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome
to Stay Calm, your daily dose of calmness. I'm Bob Roth,
and I've been teaching people to meditate for fifty years,
helping them to stay calm under pressure, reboot and re
energize their lives, and basically be a happier, healthier version

(00:22):
of themselves. And now I want to help you do
the same. Ready, sit comfortably, take a few deep breaths,
and let's begin today's journey. It was a relatively slow
afternoon in the intensive care unit when suddenly a rush
of nurses burst through the double doors, pushing a gurney

(00:42):
with a young kid strapped to the frame. He was unconscious,
having difficulty breathing. One attending nurse told the story he
had been playing football and had been hit very hard.
Tests showed he would be paralyzed for the rest of
his life. The I C you nurse took it all
in as she ready the seventeen year old for care.

(01:04):
The sadness Amy felt for the kid was palpable. What
do you do with that sadness? Sadness that comes almost
every day as part of a job you love. Amy
was one of those people who knew when she was
just five years old that she wanted to be a nurse.
She entered nursing school right out of high school, and
after graduation started working in the I c U unit,

(01:26):
life and death situations where she could make the biggest difference.
She had great mentors. She looked forward to going to
work every day, taking on extra responsibilities, extra shifts. Then,
after just eighteen months on the job, bam, it hit her,
as it does so many nurses, Amy hit the wall.

(01:48):
She was utterly and completely exhausted. Amy was living and
working in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, looking for something to
help deal with the burnout. That's when she heard about
meditation and decided to give it a try. Her first
experience was profound. I felt a very very deep rest,

(02:09):
different from anything I'd ever experienced before, She says. I
was awake inside and could hear everything going on around me.
Since then, Amy has been meditating every day, twice a
day throughout a nearly forty year career as a clinical nurse.
Sometimes she would meditate at work, find a chair in
an empty hospital room or even a closet, and then

(02:31):
we'd go back to work. Twenty minutes later, feeling rested
and refreshed and ready to go for another eight or
nine hours. Meditation saved her career. She says, no way
would she have had the energy, clarity, and focus to
be a nurse without it. In two thousand nine, Amy
was ready to retire, or at least she thought she was,

(02:52):
But just two weeks into this new phase of her life,
Amy surprised herself with a huge wave of energy and
inspiration to get back into the fray. She decided to
bring transcendental meditation to all the nurses who might want
to learn anywhere in the country. Amy developed an academic
curriculum and then arranged continuing nursing education credit for the

(03:13):
nurses who learned to meditate and took the course. She
helped inspire a research study at Sarasota Memorial Hospital which
found significant reductions in burnout, compassion, fatigue, and traumatic stress,
along with increases and resilience among meditating nurses. Today, Amy
heads up to Heal the Healers Now for nurses and

(03:35):
is working with the American Nurses Association Healthy Nurse, Healthy
Nation initiative and is working with nurse wellness programs in
hospitals across the country to bring meditation to these women
and men who really really needed. Looking back on her career,
Amy says there are two types of nurses. First, the
task oriented nurse who passes out the medications, does the

(03:59):
wound care, dressing, the tasks. And second, the nurse who
does the tasks but also engages with the patients in
a meaningful way. You're alert to their needs physically, psychologically, emotionally,
and spiritually. That's what patients want. A nurse who will
listen to them, who will anticipate their needs, who will

(04:19):
comfort them and their family. That's what nursing is all about.
I leave you with this quote from Mother Teresa that
reminds me of Amy and the nurses I have known
and those who have helped me during my times of need. Quote.
Never worry about the numbers, help one person at a time,

(04:40):
and always start with the person nearest you. All right,
thank you for joining me today. I hope you heard
something that inspires that uplifts you and that you can
incorporate into your own life. This is Bob Roth. Stay calm. Hey,

(05:06):
all of you out there, I'd love to hear from you.
You can send me your stories, your questions, or anything
else on your mind. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,
or Instagram at meditation Bob. You can also send me
an email at meditation Bob Roth at gmail dot com.
I look forward to hearing from you