Wellness Programs For Nurses: The Key To Unlock Nurses' Well-being

Have you noticed the percentage of chronic health issues is growing erratically? With that, the workload of every health worker is increasing by the minute.

When it comes to health workers, nurses are pivotal in holding up the fort. The nursing profession has a larger population than doctors.

From lifting patients to running around to fulfill their patient care duties, nurses battle a lot. So, health care organizations should emphasize safeguarding their nursing staff both on the grounds of morality and for better patient care.

How to get started with that? A key solution is wellness programs for nurses. These programs offer a proactive solution to meet all the unique health demands of nurses and increase their retention rate. Intrigued? Keep reading to learn more about this.

Key Takeaways

• The burnout linked to the nursing profession has led many nurses to quit.
• A majority of nurses who participated in a survey shared they are interested in attending stress management workshops as part of a wellness program.
• Employers can introduce additional support groups to assist nurses in safeguarding their well-being.

Why Is A Nurse's Wellness Non-Negotiable?

Nurse health and patient care go hand in hand. From tending to a patient's wounds to substituting for the responsibilities of a primary doctor, nurses deal with multiple duties. Not to mention, nurses, like everyone else, have personal battles, too.

The well-being of nurses is essential for maintaining patient care outcomes. This is one of the biggest reasons why nurse wellness is non-negotiable.

The Retention Crisis: How Burnout is Driving Nurses Away

When it comes to nurse burnout, the situation is real and escalating rapidly, leading to a low retention rate at healthcare facilities. A study of 351 nurses based in Oman in 2021 showed that about 65.6 percent of them experienced extreme work-related burnout.

Another study related to nurse burnout and turnover rate suggests -

Nurses witnessing extreme burnout led to a 12 percent increase in turnover rate across all segments of healthcare facilities. The burnout among nurses was primarily linked to emotional exhaustion resulting from excessive work hours.

It is also observed that overworked nurses are not able to offer quality nursing services, compromising patient health and safety. Here's a gist of how burnout at work is affecting the nursing profession:

• Nurses are choosing travel nursing over full-time positions.

• They are transferring from large health care units to small-scale facilities like clinics and nursing homes.

• Some nurses are even quitting their profession.

So, you see, the woe of a nurse is a reality that goes unseen and unheard in the eyes of the public.

How Do Wellness Programs Alleviate Burnout and Enhance Retention?

Wellness programs provide a wide array of health and organizational benefits. A standard wellness program includes the following core elements:

• Thorough health screening and risk assessment
• Nutrition intake tracking
• Mental health resources
• Financial wellness resources
• Personality development resources
• Healthy habit development

These elements are essential to safeguard the well-being of a busy working individual.

Wellness programs are designed and planned to help participants achieve their health goals and build healthy habits. Research suggests that implementing wellness programs has resulted in a rise in organizational productivity and growth.

This ultimately helps organizations retain top talent and achieve a good ROI.

So, you see, incorporating a wellness program is a great way to tackle nurse burnout and turnover rates.

Suggested read: Corporate Wellness Challenge Ideas to Build Healthy Habits

Best Practices for Implementing a Holistic Wellness Program for Nurses

No job is easy to perform. Every job has its fair share of unique challenges, responsibilities, and demands that have the potential to take a toll on the worker's well-being.

For instance, as a content marketing specialist, I often deal with writer’s block, burnout, and even back pain.

How do I tackle my challenges? I try to focus on the areas affecting my work and personal life by meditating, relaxing after work, and practicing office exercises.

Similarly, nurses have their own work hurdles that hamper their work performance and health. So, for them to lead a fulfilling work and personal life, here are some practices that leaders can initiate in a wellness program:

Implement A Mental Wellness Initiative

The nursing profession is a mentally demanding job. There's a public perception that nurses taking breaks while on patient care duty is selfish. However, from the nurses' perspective, they require some time off to reset their minds while on duty. This helps them deliver better care.

Given this perception, many nurses refrain from taking mini breaks to avoid stigma. This benefits no one and will only create a ruckus in the healthcare facility. So, to prevent this, employers should encourage their staff to take breaks at least every 2 hours.

During these breaks, they can complete tasks within a wellness program, like practicing mindfulness meditation, and log their mood type in a health tracking app. Tasks like mood tracking serve as a metric for HR to understand the overall organizational mood.

Determining organizational mood allows HRs and employers to take the proper measures for their nurses.

For instance, on a particular day, 35 percent of my organization’s employees log their mood on the in-house wellness app, "Vantage Fit," as “not okay". On learning this, HRs can organize light activities to lighten the employees' mood and provide mental health support resources at discounted prices.

A Physical Wellness Initiative Is The Need Of The Hour

Nurses undoubtedly undergo physically demanding tasks like standing for hours to attend to patients.

The human body has an inbuilt resilience to a certain amount of stress. But when exposed to extreme stress for longer periods, it may lead to a chronic health condition.

Nurses are prone to several disorders ranging from musculoskeletal to metabolic conditions. It is also worth mentioning that even though nurses spend much time on their feet or moving about on duty with less sleep, their physical well-being remains at stake. In short, work burnout among nurses is REAL.

As part of a holistic wellness program, employers can include sleep-tracking activities to monitor sleep quality and duration.

Based on their sleep data, HRs can arrange work schedules that will allow nurses to maintain a healthy sleep routine. They can also introduce sleep-inducing mindfulness sessions and encourage consumption of superfoods that help improve sleep quality.

Supporting Nurse Well-being Takes More Than Just Wellness Programs

Along with an effective wellness program, safeguarding nurses' well-being can include the below-mentioned tips:

• Workplace Counseling

In recent times, healthcare costs has become a necessity. A study suggests that 24 out of 100 employees require some form of mental health support. The daily stress nurses experience, offering workplace counseling services is critical.

Employers can get an on-site counselor to help healthcare facility employees seek urgent assistance.

• Peer support group

People who work in the same profession and share similar situations better understand each other's struggles. For this reason, peer support is a great way to offer nurses additional wellness assistance.

Some individuals may not feel comfortable sharing their concerns with an unknown person, even if they are professionals. In these cases, peer support groups may come in handy to deal with the struggles better and offer emotional resilience and stress relief.

In such sessions, employees with similar workplace struggles can share a unique problem-solving or coping approach. This way, other employees experiencing difficulties will have a shoulder to lean on while battling with workplace stress.

• Off-site counseling

Other than the above two approaches, organizations can offer counseling outside of the workplace premises is an option. This can also be a virtual counseling service.

• Reward and recognition

The rewards and recognition system never goes out of trend. We humans are naturally drawn to the idea of getting rewards and recognition. Some may argue, “Why give additional rewards or incentives when you are already getting paid for the job?" Well, employees disagree with this notion.

Research suggests that introducing a well-designed R&R program can increase employee performance by 11 percent. This represents quite an increase in employee work performance rate.

So, dear employer, I recommend integrating a suitable reward and recognition program for your staff as soon as possible.

Related read: Wellness Rewards: Prioritizing Employee Well-being

• Flexible work hours

Flexible work hours are one of the most basic ways to further support nurses' well-being further. They should have the liberty to choose their work schedule or at least be able to switch their work timing with someone else in the department.

By doing so, nurse professionals can reset, rewind, run their personal errands, and get back to work with more enthusiasm. When you provide a work-life balance to nurses, they will have the capacity to deliver excellent patient care effortlessly.

Help Nurses Stay Well and Engaged with Vantage Fit

As I am wrapping up, it may seem to some that safeguarding the well-being of nurses is a hefty task. If you are interested in integrating a wellness program for nurses or want to learn more about it, look no further.

Introducing Vantage Fit, your one-stop solution to all your employees' wellness worries and related organizational pitfalls. Loved by 100+ organizations, Vantage Fit offers gamified and incentive-based challenges to bring healthy lifestyle changes and more.

Want to learn more?

Talk to one of our experts right away and find out what's best for your employees and organization.

Frequently Asked Questions:

1. What Is Wellness In Nursing?

Wellness in the nursing profession is all about offering a work-life balance, adequate rest during work hours, when possible, and a well-crafted wellness program.

2. What Types Of Wellness Programs Are Most Effective For Nurses?

Based on a survey, most nurses have shown interest in wellness programs that offer stress management, physical fitness sessions, and social support groups.

3. How Can Wellness Programs Be Tailored To Fit Nurses' Demanding Schedules?

Tailoring nurses' demanding schedules involves primarily surveying the nurses to learn their day-to-day routine and wellness requirements. Accordingly, wellness admins can curate a program fitting the nurses' work schedule.

4. Can Wellness Programs Be Scaled For Larger Healthcare Organizations?

Yes. The beauty of wellness programs is that they can be scaled and curated for healthcare organizations with many employees.

5. Why Nurses Should Participate in Wellness Programs?

Nurses undoubtedly face a hectic schedule at work, affecting their physical and mental health. Studies have shown that most nurses experience work stress and burnout. This is one of the biggest reasons they should participate in wellness programs.