Self Care for Nurses: Small Doses for Wellness

The term resilience often gets a bad rap, but the ability to take care of yourself during stressors remains key to creating a work environment where you can thrive.

Grounded in research and rich in expertise gleaned from fellow nurses and other practitioners across the healthcare spectrum, Self Care for Nurses: Small Doses for Wellness offers proven self-care strategies that can positively transform your relationship with work. The authors filled this book with practical exercises that will fit easily into your lifestyle and might just keep you from the brink of burnout.

INCLUDES

• Over 30 science-based wellness practices that tend to your mind and body
• Bite-sized exercises that apply the latest in self-care research
• Relatable stories and helpful guidance from nurses and wellness experts that offer inspiration, camaraderie, and support for your challenging-yet-rewarding work as a nurse

Authentic self-care practice is best for you, for your patients, and for your colleagues. Integrating these purposefully simple and easy-to-adopt strategies into your life can help you flourish in good times and grow in difficult ones.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Small Doses for Your Happiness and Health
• It's Not What You Think
• Burnout: Sound Familiar?
• Rewire Your Brain for Resilience
• What's Your Mindset?
• Be a Flashlight
• Pay Attention
• Cultivate Your Appreciative Practices
• Tend Your Emotional Garden
• Choose Joy and Positivity
• Reframe
• Exercise Gratitude
• Change Your Question, Change Your Mind
• Use Your Vision to Change Your Fate
• Go to Your Safe and Happy Place
• Cultivate Your Wisdom
• Rest
• Nourish Your Body and Hydrate
• Evaluate Your Alcohol Consumption
• Breathe Deeply
• Move Your Body
• Integrate a Life That Works With a Life That Counts
• Make It a Good Place to Work
• Take Care of Each Other
• The Pause: When a Patient Dies
• Mattering Matters
• Put an End to Bullying and Incivility
• Advocate for Yourself and Others
• Lead From Where You Are

AVAILABLE ON THE SIGMA REPOSITORY

• 5 Self-Care Tips Every Nurse Can Do Today
• Excerpts from the book
• Expanded author bios

These free downloads are available on the Sigma Repository.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

NATALIE B. MAY, PhD, is a self-care and resilience researcher and Associate Professor at the University of Virginia School of Nursing.

TIM CUNNINGHAM, DrPH, MSN, RN, FAAN, is the Co-Chief Well-Being Officer for the Woodruff Health Sciences Center at Emory University.

DORRIE K. FONTAINE, PhD, RN, FAAN, is the Dean Emerita at the University of Virginia School of Nursing and founder of UVA's Compassionate Care Initiative.