Abstract
Introduction: A nurse residency program fosters professional growth and aids in the transition into practice. As nurses enter the workforce, they may become overwhelmed and stressed. There is a growing recognition that nurses need assistance in developing skills for resilience. A process of adapting when faced with challenges such as stress and adversity. Educating nurses in a residency program by providing interventions to promote healthy behaviors, self- care and develop a resiliency plan enhances the work environment and allows nurses to flourish. Nurses that build self-care into personal resilience plans bolster individual wellness and promote wellness. Integrating a culture of self-care and resiliency leads to increased job satisfaction and helps protect against compassion fatigue and burnout. Overall nurses need tools to create and maintain a supportive healthy work environment and actively participate in self-care.
Methods: The nurse residency program was enhanced by designing self-care activities using evidence-based interventions, collaborating with practice partners and implementing components of the AACN Wellness & Leadership Toolkit. Strategies include exercise breaks and “wellness champions.” Themed educational self-care modules were implemented based on the five pillars of health: nutrition, sleep, exercise, meditation, emotional well-being. Numerous self-care engagement activities were infused into the program such as: mindfulness practices, participating in a healthy escape room, and providing a self-care first aid kit. The nurse residents were required to develop a self-care plan and a resilience plan prior to graduating from the program.
Utilizing Kolb’s experiential learning model, learning assessments were designed to include self-reflections monthly regarding nurse resident’s interest in the topic and success of achieving their self-care goals. Qualitative & Quantitative methods are used to exam evaluations.
Conclusion: Nurses leaders must support self-care with engaging activities early in the nurses’ transition to practice. Fostering practices to develop personal resilience strategies in the workplace during residency, orientation programs and throughout organizational tenure helps protect against compassion fatigue and burnout. Practicing work-life balance and self-care leads to resilience, improved patient outcomes and retention. Creating a healthy work environment that is supportive of self-care behaviors is vital to the profession.
Notes
References:
American Association of Colleges of Nursing; Well-Being & leadership Tool Kit.aacnnursing.org/our-initiatives/well-being- and- leadership- tool-kit/too-kit retrieved August 1, 2024.
American Nurses Association (2015). Guide to the Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements: Development, Interpretation, and Application.2nd ed. Silver Spring: Md.
American Nurses Association, Combating Stress: https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/work-environment/health-safety/combating-stress/ Retrieved July1,2024.
Bastable, S. B. (2021). Nurse as Educator: Principles of Teaching and Learning for Nursing Practice: (6th ed.). Burington, MA: Jones& Bartlett Learning.
Berndt, J., & Ortelli, T. A. (2023). Creating a Healthy Work Environment. The American journal of nursing, 123(3), 59–60. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NAJ.0000921820.57044.2b
Cadmus, E., & Roberts, M. L. (2022). First year outcomes: Program evaluation of a statewide nurse residency program. The Journal of nursing administration, 52(12), 672–678. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0000000000001230
Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development (Vol. 1). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Linton, M., & Koonmen, J. (2020). Self-care as an ethical obligation for nurses. Nursing ethics, 969733020940371. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/0969733020940371
Ross, A., Yang, L., Wehrlen, L., Perez, A., Farmer, N., & Bevans, M. (2019). Nurses and health-promoting self-care: Do we practice what we preach? Journal of nursing management, 27(3), 599–608. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.12718
Stephens, T. M. (2019). Building personal resilience. American Nurse Today, 14(8), 10-16. Retrieved from https://www.myamericannurse.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/ant8-Resilience-729a.pdf
Udoudo, D. A., Agu, C. F., Lawrence, E. S., Woolcock, A. M. M., Emanuel-Frith, M., & Kahwa, E. (2023). Factors Influencing Nurses' Self Care Practices. Journal of holistic nursing: official journal of the American Holistic Nurses' Association, 41(3), 285–293. https://doi.org/10.1177/08980101221119776
Ulrich, B., Cassidy, L., Barden, C., Varn-Davis, N., Delgado, S., (2022) National Nurse Work Environments - October 2021: A Status Report. Crit Care Nurse .42 (5): 58–70. doi: https://doi.org/10.4037/ccn2022798
Williams, SG., Fruh, S., Barinas, JL., Graves, RL., (2022) Self-Care in Nurses. Journal of Radiology Nursing,41(1), 22-27. https//doi.org/10.1016/j.jradnu.2021.11.001.
World Health Organization (WHO). (2020). State of the world's nursing 2020: Investing in education, jobs and leadership (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0IGO). Geneva: World Health Organization.
WHO guideline on self-care interventions for health and well-being, 2022 revision. (2022). World Health Organization.
Sigma Membership
Alpha Omega
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
N/A
Research Approach
N/A
Keywords:
Transition to Practice, Onboarding, Stress and Coping, Curriculum Development
Recommended Citation
Ambrosio Mawhirter, Deborah and Triolo, Maria L., "Transforming a Nurse Residency Program: Building Resilience to Enhance Professional Well-Being" (2025). Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE). 60.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/chwe/2025/presentations_2025/60
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
Transforming a Nurse Residency Program: Building Resilience to Enhance Professional Well-Being
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Introduction: A nurse residency program fosters professional growth and aids in the transition into practice. As nurses enter the workforce, they may become overwhelmed and stressed. There is a growing recognition that nurses need assistance in developing skills for resilience. A process of adapting when faced with challenges such as stress and adversity. Educating nurses in a residency program by providing interventions to promote healthy behaviors, self- care and develop a resiliency plan enhances the work environment and allows nurses to flourish. Nurses that build self-care into personal resilience plans bolster individual wellness and promote wellness. Integrating a culture of self-care and resiliency leads to increased job satisfaction and helps protect against compassion fatigue and burnout. Overall nurses need tools to create and maintain a supportive healthy work environment and actively participate in self-care.
Methods: The nurse residency program was enhanced by designing self-care activities using evidence-based interventions, collaborating with practice partners and implementing components of the AACN Wellness & Leadership Toolkit. Strategies include exercise breaks and “wellness champions.” Themed educational self-care modules were implemented based on the five pillars of health: nutrition, sleep, exercise, meditation, emotional well-being. Numerous self-care engagement activities were infused into the program such as: mindfulness practices, participating in a healthy escape room, and providing a self-care first aid kit. The nurse residents were required to develop a self-care plan and a resilience plan prior to graduating from the program.
Utilizing Kolb’s experiential learning model, learning assessments were designed to include self-reflections monthly regarding nurse resident’s interest in the topic and success of achieving their self-care goals. Qualitative & Quantitative methods are used to exam evaluations.
Conclusion: Nurses leaders must support self-care with engaging activities early in the nurses’ transition to practice. Fostering practices to develop personal resilience strategies in the workplace during residency, orientation programs and throughout organizational tenure helps protect against compassion fatigue and burnout. Practicing work-life balance and self-care leads to resilience, improved patient outcomes and retention. Creating a healthy work environment that is supportive of self-care behaviors is vital to the profession.
Description
This session provides an informative synopsis of how to create a healthy work environment among new nurses by enhancing a nurse residency program with self-care activities and resilience planning.