Regina Boore Reflects on the “Year of the Healthy Nurse”

In recognition of the impact that increased nurse health, safety, and wellness has on patient outcomes, quality of care, and overall nurse satisfaction and quality of life, American Nurses Association (ANA) has designated 2017 as the “Year of the Healthy Nurse” with the tagline of “Balance your life for a healthier you.”

It’s an interesting concept – the idea that nurses have so much potential to model, educate and advocate health, safety and wellness. Too often the nurses are the worst example. Their dedication and self-giving leaves them stressed, exhausted and depleted. And this is not just true in critical care environments. ASC nurses bend over backward everyday to provide competent, personalized patient care, while maximizing efficiency, minimizing cost, and jumping through an obstacle course of regulatory demands that often impede their progress. Too often nurses feel overworked and under appreciated which exacerbates their stress in the workplace.

Many race from work to meet day care center deadlines, then spend the next four or five hours caring for children and feeding their family. Given the aging demographic of the nursing workforce, others go home to be caregivers to aging parents. This is not exactly the perfect setup for the balanced life that lends itself to health and wellbeing.

I know for myself, it is only my advanced age that allowed me to give myself permission to make life balance a priority. Over the last twenty years, I could have been the poster child for Workaholics United. This lifestyle took it’s toll on my health and robbed me of many of life’s precious moments. My preoccupation with work too often kept me from being present in the moment. Those are moments I’ll never get back.

It’s easy to lecture people about life balance. Self-help books, newspaper and magazine articles on the subject abound. It’s a lot harder to achieve life balance than it is to talk about. I think this especially true for nurses. As a breed e tend to be other centered, self-givers and responsible to a fault. What I have learned is this challenge is like everything else in life. It boils down to making a decision and sticking to it.

It helps to remember we are all mortal. Time is our most precious commodity. As nurses and in our families, many of us have ministered to patients or loved ones on their deathbed. I have never heard someone wish they had spent more time working. Spending more time with friends and family, traveling, being in the moment and appreciating the beauty of nature, are common themes…not working.

When you consider Gallup polls consistently rate nurses as the most honest and ethical professionals in the US, you can see that the ANA may be on to something with this 2017 theme. Given the respectability and potential influence we have as a profession if we can “fix” ourselves, imagine the impact we could make on the larger community and the healthcare system. It’s worth a shot and it has to start with YOU!

-Regina Boore, MS, BSN, RN, CASC