Being in the wrong headspace can throw you off. You are trying to be mindful and yet things seem off. You have a lot of things on your mind that distract you from your primary focus. When I think about it, it can cause mistakes that wouldn’t normally take place if you were fully focused.
What I do to refocus is be mindful. I catch the mistake, think about what caused it and refocus my mind. It’s odd because being a nurse and out of sort can cost your patient and yourself. Doing double checks are supposed to protect both patient and nurse from mistakes by catching them. But what if both nurses are hustling and bustling and miss it?
If only we all weren’t in a costly hurry! If only processes were in place that assisted with our daily routines. One thing I’ve done quite a bit of studies on in grad school is “mindfulness.” If we could get everyone’s workplace to implement various times during the day where staff (for me, nurses) could stop, pause, take a few deep breaths and refocus we could probably eliminate a lot more mistakes from occurring. Instead, we have to be mindful of mindful thinking in the midst of everything else we are responsible for doing. So, make your own mindful moments to meditate and refocus and thank me later.
Until Next Time,
ShesThatRN
ShesThatRNspiration 