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INTRODUCTION

In This Chapter

  • Restoring Respect, Compassion, and Equity by Fostering Nurse Well-Being

  • Resiliency, a Double-Edged Sword: Improving the Culture and Climate of Nursing

  • Crossing the Cultural Chasm Between Mental Health Stigma and Care-Seeking Behaviors in Nursing

  • Self-Care Is Not Selfish

Nurses have experienced burnout, posttraumatic stress disorder, and even death in the battle against COVID-19. While none of this is new to those who are experienced in the field, the pandemic brought these issues, along with many important others, to the forefront. It is imperative for us to care for nurses and to teach nurses to care for themselves so that they can continue their honorable work. In this chapter, the focus is on the importance of nurse well-being and its potential to promote positive health outcomes and equity. So often nurses are held in high esteem for their tremendous sacrifices, which is greatly appreciated; however, this positive view of sacrificial actions may encourage nurses to overlook or push through any physical and/or mental challenges they may be experiencing as a result. We encourage you to be cognizant of your own state of well-being and that of others and to get assistance for yourself and others. After all, how can we facilitate wellness when we are not well?

Consider the following questions as you read the essays about health equity and nurse well-being:

  • What wellness and mental health resources are available where you learn and work?

  • How can nurses contribute to the well-being of one another?

  • What are concerns of nurses who may want to seek mental health services?

  • What steps can be taken to reduce the negative impacts of mental health–related stigmas?

  • How is the well-being, both mental and physical, of nurses directly related to patient/client care?

RESTORING RESPECT, COMPASSION, AND EQUITY BY FOSTERING NURSE WELL-BEING

Cynda Hylton Rushton, PhD, RN, FAAN

Anne and George L. Bunting Professor of Clinical Ethics

The Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and the School of Nursing

The pandemic has brought into sharp focus the limits and profound consequences of the patterns of self-sacrifice within the profession and the structures that have created and reinforced oppressive and disproportionate burdens on nurses (Stokes-Parish et al., 2020). These realities parallel systemic societal patterns of gender inequality, broken trust, commodification, and disregard for the humanity of all persons. Intertwined with these realities in healthcare are the societal expectations of nurses to uphold their social contract without a corresponding responsibility of Americans to contribute to their own health and to extend the respect they expect for themselves to the nurses who are delivering care (Fry-Bowers & Rushton, 2021). Aggression and violent incidents against nurses are alarmingly high (El Ghaziri et al., 2021).

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“As nurses, we cannot take great care of others unless we ...

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