Nurse’s role in healthcare is crucial and dynamic as they form an integral part of the comprehensive standards of care. It is essential for nurses for practice self-care in health safety and wellness. Research indicates that health and wellbeing is impacted by internal and external components especially the body, mind and the environment. Personal wellbeing for nurses involves achieving complete social, physical and mental wellbeing (Killam & Heerschap, 2013). However, nurses fail to achieve personal wellbeing as they consider themselves as health providers rather than recipients of care. Nurses therefore engage in health promotion strategies where they advocate for their patients, enable them to access healthcare and control their health preferences as well as mediate with health professionals, governments and various organizations to ensure a healthy population neglecting their own health.
Nursing, despite the fulfillment derived by its participants is a stressful profession. It therefore demands that nurses embrace and practice regular self-care to enable them to manage the stress and overcome issues like exhaustion and burnout (Blum, 2014). Research shows that self-care is imperative to personal health and provides sustainability. Therefore, nurses’ self-care and wellbeing will assist them to continue caring for others and impact their professional growth. Nurses are prone to various kind of stressors and practicing self-care helps in combating the stress and promotes health in practice. Having being taught to care for other, nurses in many cases are reluctant to the time off and replenish themselves and find activities that indulge in provision of self-care.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The health and wellbeing of nursing students is of uttermost importance due to their inexperience in the field as it has implication on the quality of care they provide to the patients. In many instances student nurses are aware of the issues which hinder their personal wellbeing and affect their health but may suppress them by viewing them as healthcare providers as opposed to being recipients (Katz et al., 2009). They may experience physical health issues or suffer psychologically through other channels. For example, the wellbeing of a student nurse can be influenced by unsupportive mentors which can demoralize and raise issues of low self-esteem and increase stress. The implications will be seen in patient outcomes and service delivery. Nursing students may also be affected by other stressors such as patients’ experiences and suffering or their inability to provide appropriate answers to patient questions (Katz et al., 2009). Their experience the stress of academics report presentation and workload form clinical practice (Killam & Heerschap, 2013). It is essential to inform them of the need for self-care and introduce to them various strategies, activities and habitual practices which will reduce their stress experienced during the early stages of the career.
For the qualified nurses, stress emerges from their daily practices and job related issues. In their environment they are subjected to problems when dealing with patients and exists in an unpredictable and challenging environment where much is demanded from them. Therefore, engaging in activities which decrease their levels of stress and provide ways care for the self is significant and necessary (Katz et al., 2009). Nurses should therefore find time to engage in stress relieving and relaxation techniques. Based on their interests, activities like art, music, dancing, meditation and any other personal preference which relaxes he body and the mind is advisable. Other self-care activities include having a proper balanced diet, exercising, spending time alone and stress reducing techniques.
Personal wellbeing for nurses and student nurses is essential due to the effects of the stressors on their health. The failure of nurses to practice personal wellbeing is costly to the health care system. Facilitating nursing care and personal wellbeing by offering them breaks and sufficient time to eat and drink during shifts, employers and health care facilities will save resources, prevent losses experienced during absences and save funding used for recruitment initiatives. It is essential for nurses to find an extraordinary insightful environment to assist them in dealing with their physical, psychological and emotional encounters.
Nurses should practice personal wellbeing to eliminate burnout incidences, diseases depression, aging, and chronic fatigue (Katz et al., 2009). Thus, providing interventions for relaxation has positive results leading to life satisfaction, better service delivery, and professional growth and improve patients’ outcomes. Nurses also require help and support through increased attention to help them deal with job anxiety and achieve a balance between work and life. Provision of interventions and encouraging practicing and students’ nurses to develop and practice self-care will decrease stress and improve their health and their contribution to the healthcare system (Killam & Heerschap, 2013). Self-care and nurses wellbeing will trigger positive energy and vitality in the workplace.
Conclusion
The personal wellbeing of nurses is critical and has clear benefits both personally and for the patients and the overall health care unit. It is important to start the preparation process early enough before the students nurses engage in clinical practice. Employers should also enhance nurses wellbeing by setting time apart for nurses to take breaks enjoy meals and drinks in a healthy environment during their shifts. It is also essential to ensure nurses undertake clinical supervision and ensure that they do not hunger, suffer from stress and experience dehydration during their working hours. Practicing nurses should also be keen to develop and make the self-care practices habitual. Self-care and activities to enhance student’s wellbeing are diverse and available.
References
Blum, C., (September 30, 2014) "Practicing Self-Care for Nurses: A Nursing Program Initiative" OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing Vol. 19, No. 3, Manuscript 3.
Katz, J.R., Carter, C., Bishop, J., & Kravits, S. L. (2009). Keys to nursing success (3rd ed., Revised Printing). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Killam, L. & Heerschap, C. (2013). Challenges to student learning in the clinical setting: a qualitative descriptive study. Nurse Education Today. Vol.33, No.6, 684–691
