- 22 September 2021
- 6 min read
My Tips On How To Get Through Working In A Pandemic
Subscribe To AdviceSchool Nurse, Yvette, gives her tips and advice for staying sane during the pandemic, balancing your work and social life and the benefits of meditation.
Topics covered in this article
Take A Break From Watching The News
Stay In Contact With Friends & Family
Practice Gratitude & Breathing Exercises
Remind Yourself That We Will Get Through This

Search Jobs
1000s of jobs for Nurses & Care Professionals. No.1 for UK nursing, care & healthcare jobs.
Search JobsIntroduction
Hi everyone, we're back with another video.
Today's video is my tips on how to get through working in a pandemic.
Now we all know it's difficult working in a pandemic, especially not being aware of what's gonna happen tomorrow, but today, my tips will help support you get through working during the pandemic.
Take A Break From Watching The News
So my first tip will be, is take a break from COVID-19 by not watching the news.
Now you might think that's a little bit crazy because you know, you wanna stay up to date, but when you're in a position where you're on a front line and you're working in a midst of COVID-19, you already face the pressures of working through it.

So therefore having the news on all the time, updating you of the statistics can cause a lot of unneeded stress.
We know that in past times, the news can increase anxiety levels.
So where you're already anxious and working on the front line, it's best to safeguard yourself.
Not saying don't watch the news at all.
However, consider how long you tune into the news.

What Do You Think?
Ask questions, comment and like this article below! Share your thoughts, add your opinion in the comments below.
CommentStay In Contact With Friends & Family
My tip number two would be, stay in contact with friends and family.
Now we know it's a time where we are not able to do the things that we used to do.
Hang out with friends, hang out with family.
So it's important to pick up the phone, call your family members, call your friends, but why not do this via video chat?
This will allow some face-to-face contact and also help support you feel supported and safe during this time.
Take A Walk
My tip number three will be, take a walk.
Now I know that it's getting to the winter times and it's a bit cold, but going outside for some fresh air, new scenery, observing what's around you that you maybe never noticed before will actually help support you.
Support you in clearing your mind and thinking of things outside of COVID-19.

Become A Community Contributor
Share your story to help and inspire others. Write or create a video about your job or your opinions!
ContributeConsider Meditation Or Yoga
My tip number four would be consider meditation or yoga.
There are many, many platforms out there that can help support your levels of anxiety and stress during this time, I would recommend the Calm app, Headspace.
Also, you can access information on MIND's website.
Also looking at YouTube videos, YouTube videos that go through mindfulness exercises, yoga, or you can also use YouTube to just watch funny videos, funny things, things that you're interested in, so that can help support you in taking your mind away from COVID-19 when you're not at work.
Eat Well
My tip number five will be eat nutritiously, eat foods will help boost your immune system.
Now I know right now, it's getting cold and you know, we wanna wrap up, but eating foods to help support your immune system will help you keep mentally and physically safe.
Foods that you can consider are citrus fruits, like oranges, grapefruit, lemon.
Also, you can consider including greens into your diet.
This can be like broccoli, spinach, and kale.
Other foods that help support and boost your immune system are ginger, garlic, turmeric, yogurt and zinc.
So zinc you can find in tablet form.
Practice Gratitude & Breathing Exercises
My next tip would be practice gratitude.
Now I know this sounds kind of cliche, but once you get into gratitude exercises, you find that you have a lot more to be grateful for or a lot more going for yourself than you actually noticed.
And that is totally understandable because we're working in unprecedented times when we are not aware of what's gonna happen today or tomorrow, but practicing gratitude can maintain that positivity and boost our spirits.
And therefore also increase our working experience.

To practice gratitude, you can start off by daily thinking about three things you're grateful for.
Now this can be basic things such as a place to stay, having a place to sleep, having food, having a job, even though it's a difficult job.
And during this times it can be difficult, but practicing gratitude can help support your positive mind and therefore boost your morale.
Through practicing gratitude, you can also incorporate breathing exercises.
This can help support you when you're feeling anxious or stress even at work, you can carry out breathing exercises.
There are many types of breathing exercises that you can find on various apps that I mentioned before, such as Headspace, the Calm app, but also there are YouTube videos where I'm practicing mindfulness, you can also search breathing exercises.
Ask For What You Need
The next tip, and I think this is the most important tip is again, ask for what you need.
Our last video, I spoke about the importance of asking.
Now I find at times nurses just get on with what they gotta do with the minimal resources they have.
But during this COVID-19 pandemic, it is very important that we not only safeguard ourselves, but also safeguard our patients.
Asking for the correct equipment.
If this is PPE, you're working within the guidelines of the NMC and public health is very key during this time.
As nurses, we want to help support those that come into our care, but also support our families that we go back home to.
So it's very important that you take this time to be aware of what is required from nurses in regards to the PPE that we should wearing and asking management for this.
Remind Yourself That We Will Get Through This
Last and final tip I think is the hardest tip and this tip is to remind yourself and others around you, that we will get through this.
After all, teamwork makes the dream work, right?
So if you continue to work at a team when we're at work, support each other within our capacity, we can overcome this.
Now I know sometimes your shift might be very difficult and when you get home, you're really stressed and drained.
However, if you consider some of the tips that I have mentioned in this video, I'm sure that will help support your mindset and also create an overall positive morale when working during this pandemic.
You can find more tips on self-care here.
Hope you got something from this video, thank you for listening guys, and stay tuned to our next video, bye.
School Nurse
About the author
School Nurse
Yvette is a qualified Nurse, formally working as a Neonatal Nurse, and Neonatal Junior Sister. Yvette now works as a School Nurse, and runs the ‘askNurse’ Instagram page.
Want to get involved in the discussion
Sign In JoinSimilar Articles
View All Articles For this TopicWhy Are Female Nurses At A Higher Risk Of Suicide?
Do Nurses Suffer From Impostor Syndrome Because Of Workplace Pressures?
The Vital Role Of Nurses In Promoting Mental Health