Self-Care in Nursing

As a profession centered on caring, nurses spend much of our time providing care for others; unfortunately, we often do not give the same consideration to self-care – those activities we do to rejuvenate and refresh ourselves, our spirit, and our energy (Lombardo, et al). Kravits, McAllister-Black, Grant, & Kirk summarized the impact of poor self-care succinctly, “Nurses whose own emotional reservoirs are low are less equipped to meet the care needs of their patients, and this may negatively impact patient safety”.

The World Health Organization defines self-care as “activities individuals, families, and communities undertake with the intention of enhancing health, preventing disease, limiting illness, and restoring health”. According to the Buffalo University Master’s in Social Work Self-Care program, a successful self-care plan factors in six key areas: Physical, Mental and Emotional Wellness, Spiritual Needs, Positive Relationships, and School/Work/Life Balance (Butler, et al). Exercising, journaling, eating well, meditating, maintaining outside interests, and praying, are examples of self-care strategies.

For many RNs, self-care is a concept that seems like a luxury that we do not have time for (Lombardo, et al). However, it doesn’t matter if you are a nursing student, new graduate, acute care nurse, or community health nurse, we all need to take care of our own wellbeing so that we can meet the challenges each of us will face at school, work, and home (Jackson, et al).

So how do you find the time for self-care? First of all it is important to acknowledge that there is no one-size-fits-all self-care plan. We each have different workloads, lifestyles, circumstances, interests, and needs. Therefore, it is important that each of us take a couple of minutes to identify our individual needs and priorities.
Self-Care Assessment – How are you doing?
You may read the article Self-Care in Nursing: A Call to Action, by Maren Austen, BSN Student
in its entirety by following this link:http://www.arnbc.ca/blog/self-care-in-nursing-a-call-to-action-by-maren-austen-bsn-student/