Pressure vs Stress And How They Apply to Optometry

Let’s make it clear both pressure and stress have a negative effect on our wellbeing and can hurt us physically and mentally disturbing our decision-making, how we see and understand things, and how we judge situations. Depending on the material each one of is made of exerted pressure will result in a different level of stress.

Pressure and stress are two words that are often mistakenly used for one another. But If we look at how physics defines pressure and stress we could learn a lot. Pressure is the amount of force exerted per unit area, whereas stress is the amount of force exerted per unit area, experienced by a material. This means that while pressure is always a measurable positive force, exerted externally, with the same magnitude in all directions at a point, stress is not a measurable force quantity of a positive or negative elongation, developed internally, with different magnitude in different directions at a point.

If we want to apply these notes to humans we would identify pressure as the result of external environmental situations imposed on us and that we have absolutely no control over them. Stress on the other hand is the transformation that happens to every one of us going under pressure that is dependent of the material we’re made of in terms of experiences, resilience, empathy, and conscientiousness and that we should be able to control if we develop experience, resilience, empathy, and conscientiousness. When we are under pressure we are forced to change our position, our program or system and the first normal reaction is try to resist change and try not to leave of our comfort zone.

Pressure vs stress situations in an Optometry practice occur on daily basis and we are constantly challenged and put in front of a “fight, flight, or freeze” situation. Suppose that the practice was over-scheduled due to a Monday sluggish process, associate absenteeism, or simply because of an exam room equipment outage forcing you to consult in one room when you usually have two optometrists consulting in two rooms. Depending on the experience you have in such a situation you will either panic or do nothing and make the situation worse or if you are a well-experienced manager you know different ways on how to handle pressure and save the situation.