Nurse Self Care: A Best Practice Approach

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to develop a best practice recommendation for health promoting interventions for nurses. A total of 26 studies were systematically included, and identified a nurse self-care deficit, its correlation with adverse patient events, followed by an array of health promoting interventions for nurses. An extensive review of this literature supported the implementation of exercise, Reiki, mindfulness meditation, psycho-educational programs, musical therapy, and auricular acupuncture as health promoting interventions for nurses. Inclusion of the findings into a CBT module for nurses at various facilities could increase awareness for the deficit and compliance for according health promoting interventions. Increasing the awareness for, and availability of, health-promoting interventions could result in an increase in nurse wellbeing could improve patient care, safety, and health as a whole.