Background: The notion of self-care should include more than physical health; the concept should also include emotional, mental, and spiritual self-care. Self-care behaviors are tailored to an individual\u27s perceptions and values.
Purpose: The primary focus of this project aimed to improve nurse’s self-care practices. Through interviews with executive leadership at a large urban hospital, the project facilitator identified the need for easy access to self-care strategies for ICU nurses.
Design Method: The Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) Model for Quality Improvement was used for this project. A systematic review of the literature was performed to ascertain the effectiveness of self-care strategies for nurses.
Conclusion: The project outcome was creating The Unifying Vision website containing creative strategies that support a healthy lifestyle and encourage intensive care unit (ICU) nurses to engage in self-care practices.
Implications for Nursing: Stress among nurses has been linked to high nurse turnover, nursing shortages, and lack of nurse retention. Nurses who work with pain or depression experience more medication mistakes, patient falls, and provide decreased quality of care; however, frequent self-care interventions may help to relieve stress. When nurses experience job-related stress, the likelihood of effectively managing patient care becomes difficult
