Like many new nurses, I entered the profession with images of days filled with quality time for each patient. I hoped to provide cozy environments, complete with soft lighting, freshly scented air, and calming music. I expected to give regular backrubs and patiently listen to every patient’s life story. Because I enjoy creative endeavors, I planned to encourage my patients to relax with special activities like crafts or journaling. As it turns out, many of these ideas are considered “alternative therapies” by mainstream medicine.

Since becoming a nurse, I have, on occasion, found time and energy to engage in some of these interventions and it has always felt like time well-spent. Naturally, patient comfort will always be a top priority in my bedside care.  However, I have learned that, in the reality of today’s hospital climate, some interventions may be more luxury than routine. It is not that I don’t believe in their importance, and I long to provide them on a more regular basis. It is just that I have learned that an RN’s role demands that we continually prioritize, and other tasks usually take precedence.

Before stopping for a lengthy chat or giving a soothing backrub, I must provide each patient with ordered medical care and complete my documentation. So it is no surprise when I have little time or energy left over to attend to the “extra comfort” measures that I once considered routine to nursing.

A wise nurse once told me to choose one patient per day and perform at least one special task for that patient or their family. While I may not have time to listen to each life story, I can usually devote the time to do a few extra comfort measures per shift. Sometimes I can do more. I have also learned to combine routine with enhanced comfort care. I try to assess patients while listening to concerns or applying lotion to dry skin. I have found that these simple activities not only soothe the patient. They also provide me with a feeling of satisfaction because, on those days, I leave the hospital feeling that I have made a difference in someone’s life.

How do you find time and energy to provide extra comfort care to your patients? Have you found the demands of nursing to be greater than you anticipated?