Abstract
In response to mounting evidence of clinician burnout, the US Surgeon General declared a call to action, “we need to build a culture that supports well-being. It’s time to break the traditional silence surrounding the suffering of health workers”[1]. Our clinicians’ suffering in survival mode was confirmed by the findings from participation in a 2021 multi-site study among 60 Magnet hospitals evaluating clinician wellbeing[2].
Our organization embarked on a top-down/bottom-up approach rooted in loving kindness and personal and professional development. Over time, a shift has occurred, and an intentional transformation began towards viewing nurse well-being as a standard of care.
These system-level interventions[3] perpetuated this shift:
- Develop a Professional Practice Model based on the Theory of Human Caring.
- Provide leadership training to support professional embodiment of loving kindness.
- Educate nurse residents on micropractices for stress[4].
- Engage multi-generational nurses in the Integrative Healing Arts Academy™(IHAA), an intensive six-month training program in integrative and holistic nursing to support work engagement, self-reflection, and personal and professional insight[5].
- Support network wide initiatives to Look and Listen, Create Moments, Build Relationships and Make it Personal.
- Create a trained team in Critical Incident Stress Management to support colleagues around high impact events.
Outcomes include 50 nurse leaders in the Caritas Leadership Program™, 60 nurses training in holistic nursing, 66 critical incidents debriefed and 351 support visits. As the shift continues, all efforts are ongoing. Over time, nurse self-care has shifted to a standard of nursing practice embedded in the professional practice model and supported by continuing education and nurse leadership.
Notes
References:
1. Murthy, V. H. (2022a). Confronting health worker burnout and well-being. New England Journal of Medicine, 387(7), 577–579. https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmp2207252
2. Aiken, L. H., Lasater, K. B., Sloane, D. M., Pogue, C. A., Fitzpatrick Rosenbaum, K. E., Muir, K. J., & McHugh, M. D. (2023). Physician and Nurse Well-Being and Preferred Interventions to Address Burnout in Hospital Practice Factors Associated With Turnover, Outcomes, and Patient Safety. JAMA Health Forum, 4(7).
3. Carthon, J. M. B., Hatfield, L., Brom, H., Houton, M., Schlak, A., & Aiken, L. (2022). System-level improvements in work environments lead to Lower Nurse Burnout and higher patient satisfaction. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 52(10S). https://doi.org/10.1097/nna.0000000000001209
4. Valluri, J., & Gorton, K. L. (2022). Nurse: Five micropractices to reduce stress. Journal of Radiology Nursing, 41(4), 352–356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jradnu.2022.09.002
5. Aydin, A., Kaya, Y., & Erbas, A. (2023). The effect of holistic nursing competence on work engagement, self-reflection, and insight in nurses. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 41(3), 318–319. https://doi.org/10.1177/08980101231199143
Sigma Membership
Beta Xi at-Large
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
N/A
Research Approach
N/A
Keywords:
Stress, Coping, Interprofessional Initiatives, Theory
Recommended Citation
Brown, Margaret McGrath and Rodriguez, Jennifer, "The Shift: Embracing Loving Kindness and Nurse Well-Being as a Standard of Care" (2025). Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE). 31.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/chwe/2025/presentations_2025/31
Conference Name
Creating Healthy Work Environments
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Conference Year
2025
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
The Shift: Embracing Loving Kindness and Nurse Well-Being as a Standard of Care
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
In response to mounting evidence of clinician burnout, the US Surgeon General declared a call to action, “we need to build a culture that supports well-being. It’s time to break the traditional silence surrounding the suffering of health workers”[1]. Our clinicians’ suffering in survival mode was confirmed by the findings from participation in a 2021 multi-site study among 60 Magnet hospitals evaluating clinician wellbeing[2].
Our organization embarked on a top-down/bottom-up approach rooted in loving kindness and personal and professional development. Over time, a shift has occurred, and an intentional transformation began towards viewing nurse well-being as a standard of care.
These system-level interventions[3] perpetuated this shift:
- Develop a Professional Practice Model based on the Theory of Human Caring.
- Provide leadership training to support professional embodiment of loving kindness.
- Educate nurse residents on micropractices for stress[4].
- Engage multi-generational nurses in the Integrative Healing Arts Academy™(IHAA), an intensive six-month training program in integrative and holistic nursing to support work engagement, self-reflection, and personal and professional insight[5].
- Support network wide initiatives to Look and Listen, Create Moments, Build Relationships and Make it Personal.
- Create a trained team in Critical Incident Stress Management to support colleagues around high impact events.
Outcomes include 50 nurse leaders in the Caritas Leadership Program™, 60 nurses training in holistic nursing, 66 critical incidents debriefed and 351 support visits. As the shift continues, all efforts are ongoing. Over time, nurse self-care has shifted to a standard of nursing practice embedded in the professional practice model and supported by continuing education and nurse leadership.
Description
Study and survey data conducted in the first half of 2021 indicated a post COVID-19 environment of survival. Colleagues expressed that their well-being needed to be addressed. In response to these findings, our health network embarked on a top-down/bottom-up multifaceted approach rooted in loving kindness, self-compassion, and personal and professional development. A shift began and transformation began towards nurse well-being as a standard of care.