Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Exercise As Self-Care To Combat Nurse Burnout, Jessica Petefish

Theses and Graduate Projects

The demands on nurses continue to grow, inducing stress and other symptoms of burnout. Nurse burnout can cause short and long term physiological and psychological symptoms. Nurse burnout not only affects nurses but has implications for patients and hospitals as well. Exercise has been proven to have many health benefits and the ability to alleviate symptoms of burnout. Nurses on a hematology/oncology unit cited burnout as their reason for leaving the unit. This project proposes a walking program as a self-care method to reduce symptoms of nurse burnout. Utilizing Jean Watson’s Theory of Human Caring and her idea of self-care …