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Nurse Well-Being: Building Peer and Leadership Support

As part of its mission, the American Nurses Foundation delivers programs to enable better health outcomes for patients and the nurses who care for them. The Nurse Well-Being: Building Peer and Leadership Support Program was developed by nurses for nurses to offer evidence-based tools and resources to improve their recovery from stress reactions. This innovative program:

  • Utilizes the Stress First Aid (SFA) Model, a framework to improve recovery from stress reactions, both in oneself and in coworkers. The SFA peer support model was originally developed for those in high-risk occupations like military, fire and rescue, and law enforcement. A new version of this model has been curated by nurses and for nurses.
  • Provides access to real-time resources and tools to help nurses understand the science behind what they are experiencing, and how to manage moments of extraordinary stress.
  • Leverages solutions that assist individual nurses, nurse leaders, and health care organizations to respond to and lessen the severity of nurse burnout and disengagement.
  • Creates a shared language around stress and burnout to lessen the stigma nurses may encounter when in need of help.

The American Nurses Foundation piloted the program in four health care organizations including:

  • BayCare Health, Tampa Bay, Florida
  • Indiana University Health, locations throughout Indiana
  • University of South Alabama Health Hospital, Mobile, Alabama
  • Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

The Nurse Well-Being: Building Peer and Leadership Support Program Really Works

Kellen McCormack, BSN, RN, CCRN

Clinical Operations Manager,

Cardiac Intensive Care/Rapid Response, Indiana Health

"This program has given me language, understanding, and tools to reflect on the stress I’ve experienced in the past and better enable me to confront and recover from stress going forward..."

“This program has given me language, understanding, and tools to reflect on the stress I’ve experienced in the past and better enable me to confront and recover from stress going forward.

I’m excited to bring the rest of the program to the cardiac intensive care unit and use it to build a culture of peer support. Acute and chronic stress will always be present in critical care nursing, but the sooner we acknowledge, address, and confront the realities of the stress we experience every day, the healthier nursing will be in the long run.”

Kristy Todd, MSN, RN, ONC

Clinical Advisor

Indiana University Health, Bloomington

"When I learned about this program, I couldn’t wait to bring it to my team! Not only does the program help us develop greater self-awareness, but it also equips us to effectively help each other in directly meaningful ways. Intervening earlier can mean the difference between holistic coping versus emotional (or even physical) injury. This program is invaluable for building our resilience..."

“Our recent years in health care have presented challenges unlike anything I have faced before as a registered nurse. So often my team and I would function in crisis mode, doing everything we could to meet the needs of our patients and their families. This would often translate into exhaustion while challenging our own mental health. We witnessed and experienced great hardships while standing together, doing our best to count on and care for each other.

When I learned about this program, I couldn’t wait to bring it to my team! Not only does the program help us develop greater self-awareness, but it also equips us to effectively help each other in directly meaningful ways. Intervening earlier can mean the difference between holistic coping versus emotional (or even physical) injury. This program is invaluable for building our resilience.”

Get updates on the Nurse Well-Being: Building Peer and Leadership Support Program

Subscribe to Nurse Well-Being: Building Peer and Leadership Support email list to receive updates on how this program is providing nurses with the tools to better confront and recover from workplace stress:

In the News

Indiana hospital one of four in U.S. trying to combat nurse burnout with pilot program

Article by Aaron Leedy, August 10th

Read more

Stress First Aid Uses Colors to Take Nurses' Emotional Temperature

Analysis by Carol Davis, August 15

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Nurse Burnout: Seeking New Solutions to an Age-Old Problems

Strategies by Veronika Wheadon, March 16.

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Normalizing the language of stress, burnout, and nurses’ well-being

myamericannurse.com

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