Ep. 42: Secondary Traumatic Stress Syndrome in Healthcare Professionals

Today’s guest is Hilary Erickson from Pulling Curls and Pregnancy Nurse to talk about feeling her feelings as a bedside nurse as a case study for secondary traumatic stress in labor and delivery nurses. We’re so grateful to her for being candid with us as she shares about her intense anxiety before her shift - even starting the night before. Hilary shares that even in nursing school she believes that nurses are taught to blame themselves for everything that goes wrong, which can create some misplaced responsibility, for sure.

We also discuss:

• impacts of modern medical model of care on patient safety and nurse mental health
• how hospitals protect themselves at the expense and to the detriment of their nurses/physicians
• The role nurse culture plays in perpetuating nurse disempowerment and unhealthy habits
• Curiosity around what traumatic stress looks like in different scenarios, including birth in a car!

You can find Hilary on her blog: https://www.pullingcurls.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pregnancynurse/