Digital Commons Network^™

Finding The Right Fit: How Rotations And Mentorship Shape Successful Nursing Careers, Jessica Dunks, Lois Yearous, Judi Rhyner, Emily Calabro, Keith Jones, Earlene Reagan

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

Background: Nursing students often face challenges in gaining adequate exposure to diverse clinical settings. This can make choosing a first nursing job difficult, leading to potential dissatisfaction and turnover. In a 12-hospital system, a novel initiative was designed to address this issue by providing nursing students with immersive clinical experiences in various departments, facilitating a smoother transition into their professional nursing roles.

Methods: Nurse technicians (nurse techs) are nursing students hired into the system to gain hands-on experience. The pilot program was launched in May 2022 across 9 Collaborative Business Units (CBUs) within a hospital system in Washington state. The …

Social Capital In The Workplace For New Graduate Nurses: Maximizing Recruitment And Retention, Faye Ari Inumerables, Jennifer Emilie Mannino, Lisa A. Lumley, Kenya Williams, Pamela Watters, Fadjana Joseph, Kimberly Campbell-Taylor, Jennifer Hahl, Kathy Leistner, Mary Stevenson

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

Background: Given the widespread nursing shortages, prioritizing nurse recruitment and retention efforts is essential. Understanding the impact of new graduates' initial experiences on their decision to accept and remain in their roles is essential for educators, recruiters, and healthcare system administrators to gain valuable insights. Purpose: This study aimed to examine a national sample of new graduate nurses’ first job experiences through the lens of social capital. Theoretical Framework: Social capital (Bourdieu, 1986; Coleman, 1988; Putnam, 1994) asserts that social relationships create valuable networks that serve as resources to their members, extending reciprocal benefits for individuals and the organization, building …

Reshaping Workplace Well-Being: The Journey To Human Connection, Heike Doody, P. Ann Blaney

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

As healthcare continues to evolve in post-Covid environment, nurse leaders face increasing challenges with guiding teams, improving engagement, and promoting overall wellbeing. Increasing work engagement is an important indicator of workforce sustainability and wellbeing (Schaufeli, 2021). Leaders foster a culture of wellbeing, safety, and support for employees in healthcare organizations with a human connection. The purpose was to reengage direct care nurses to implement wellbeing standards and reestablish the human connection among staff by utilizing engaging leadership concepts.

Faced with lack of council engagement, leaders from the Healthy Work Environment Council (HWEC) shifted their leadership style from transitional to engaging …

Exploring Nursing Students' Strategies To Promote Self-Care And Well-Being, Kelley Mcguire, Sheri L. Compton-Mcbride

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

Burnout and nurses leaving bedside practice have become critical contributors to the nursing shortage (Weston, 2022). In alignment with Chapter 10 of The Future of Nursing 2020-2030 (2021), which addresses workforce well-being, healthcare leaders have begun to demonstrate an intentional focus on improving nurse well-being and resilience. Recent evidence suggests that waiting to begin well-being training until nurses are in practice is too late (NWAA, 2023). This is supported in Domain 10 of The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education (2021), which ensures that students are competent in self-care and well-being. The purpose of this study is to understand …

Examining The Self-Care Practices And Needs Of Baccalaureate Nursing Students, Vicki Renee Voskuil, Ellie Marion, Hannah Peirce, Erika Frost

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

Nursing students are taught to promote self-care for patients, but they often neglect their own self-care.1 Stress, combined with lack of effective coping strategies, can lead to burnout and health problems among nursing students.2 Interventions designed to improve self-care practices of nursing students are needed to reduce stress and improve well-being.3 The purpose of this study was to examine the self-care practices and needs of baccalaureate nursing students to inform a curricular intervention. This study used a cross-sectional descriptive survey design involving baccalaureate nursing students (N=112) at a liberal arts college in the Midwestern United States. Self-care practices were examined …

Empowering Nurses To Drive Healthy Work Environments: Addressing Burnout And Well-Being, Maggie Mccright

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

Nurses face challenges of burnout, staffing shortages, and high turnover, impacting mental health and job satisfaction. This session offers evidence-based strategies to foster positive practice environments. Attendees will explore assessing mental wellness, integrating well-being into strategic plans, and addressing compassion fatigue. Additionally, a new program aimed to close existing gaps in organizations’ well-being programs will be introduced.

From Intra To Interdisciplinary: Growing An Inclusive Nicu Wellness Team, Christina Rose San Filipo

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) teams care for some of the hospital’s most fragile and sick patients. Larger NICUs frequently care for more acute patients, increasing the risk of burnout among team members.1,2 These NICUs often see a larger volume of patients, presenting challenges to teaming and collaborating effectively as team sizes increase to meet patient care demands.1,2 The AACN Healthy Work Environment (HWE) assessment tool was deployed to nurses in an upstate NY level IV NICU. The lowest-scoring areas were true collaboration, skilled communication, and meaningful recognition. Based on HWE data, the ACE-15 Teamwork and Collaboration survey was distributed …

Factors Influencing Voluntary Nurse Turnover, Tracy A. Riley, Jennifer A. Sledge, Marilyn Shallom, Heidi K. Holtz

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

Background: Nurse staffing in the acute care setting remains turbulent and unstable, and there is increased evidence that the context within work environments may contribute to turnover. Contributing factors of this instability lead to burnout, including emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a decreased sense of personal accomplishment. RNs who experience burnout are twice as likely to leave their bedside nursing job in comparison with RNs who are not experiencing burnout. Significant post-COVID turnover within the acute care setting has been identified, however, current evaluation of voluntary nurse turnover is needed. This study examines exit survey data from nurses voluntarily terminating their …

Overcoming Toxic Positivity: Leadership Strategies For Promoting Healthy Nursing Work Environments, Hannah Grace Shipp, Katherine Christine Hall

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

In the post-COVID-19 landscape, many nurses report feeling abandoned (5), undervalued (6), and inadequately supported (2,3). As such, it is incumbent for organizational leaders to take action to support nursing staff and implement strategies that foster healthy work environments and promote nurses’ well-being. A potentially overlooked contributing factor is toxic positivity. While this phenomenon appears to be present in nursing, it remains underexplored. The purpose of this presentation is: (a) to provide an overview of the concept of toxic positivity, (b) to explore its potential impacts on patient care outcomes, and (c) to discuss strategies nurse leaders can employ to …

Reigniting The Passion: Alluring Our Future Leaders, Catherine J. Mohammed

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

Background/Significance: Although the influence of leadership style on empowerment and job satisfaction of the workforce has been documented, there are few researchers who examined the influence of the leader’s experience in developing not only their own leadership skills in the creation and sustainment of healthy work environments but to engage and “train up” the development of our future nurse leaders. The current nursing workforce is struggling with engagement and retention and the lack of interest in leadership in the emerging generations.

The empirical evidence supports of the creation of the healthy work environment whether it is a Magnet designated facility …

Building Resiliency In Senior Nursing And Health Profession Students, Diane K. Brown

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

Nurses and students report high stress and burnout associated with front line care. Nursing curriculum and other health professions dedicate little instruction regarding resiliency or handling professional stress. This lack of training may account for the high rate of job and professional turnover in the first year of practice. Stress in the health professions begins as students who arguably work harder than many other students in other majors to meet the high demands of challenging curriculum and clinical practice hours.

The purpose of this presentation is to describe a resiliency training workshop and the effect on student participants regarding feelings …

Fostering Wellness In Nursing: Insights From Mental Health Bulletin Boards, Christina Marie Lightner, Kelly A. Wolgast, Khalid Almasloukh, Amy Criscitello

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

The College of Nursing promotes a wellness culture to address growing mental health challenges among nursing students and professionals (Lipson et al., 2022). Grounded in the 12 dimensions of wellness (Gawlik et al., 2024), these initiatives foster resilience, support healthy lifestyle behaviors, and create a nurturing environment for the nursing community. Mental health and wellness interventions play a crucial role in improving the well-being of college students, including nursing students (Melnyk et al., 2020).
This presentation outlines the development and thematic analysis of Mental Health Bulletin Boards (MHBBs), designed to engage nursing students and professionals in self-care and resilience-building practices. …

Creating Healthy Work Environments Through Holistic Innovation, Bree Joseph

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

Purpose: Holistic Certified Nurse Specialists (HCNS) with nurse leadership responded to clinical nurse feedback to support their ability to use available wellness and stress reduction resources. Together, they developed a scheduling system to maximize clinical nurse use of holistic support.

Significance: An organizational well-being survey indicated that clinical nurses experienced higher stress and burnout than other clinical staff. Covid 19 and its aftermath significantly impacted the overall health of nurses who reported symptoms of stress, anxiety, and emotional exhaustion. Through transformational leadership, the HCNS leveraged the hospital’s person-centered care philosophy to create an environment for nurse wellbeing.

Methods: Previously, the …

Addressing Nurse Mental Health And Suicide Prevention: The Role Of The H.O.P.E. Certification, Christopher Wojnar, Sally Spencer-Thomas

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

Nurses' mental health, essential for quality patient care, is severely compromised by systemic issues, resulting in heightened suicide risks. Recent data reveals that nurses face a higher suicide risk than other professions. This was tragically exemplified by the 2023 suicide of Tristin Kate Smith, whose "Letter to My Abuser" exposed the profound emotional and psychological toll of her work environment and inadequate support, highlighting critical systemic failures.

Statistical Context:
Between 2017 and 2018, 729 nurses in the U.S. died by suicide, totaling 2,374 nurse suicides from 2007 to 2018 (Davis et al., 2021).
40% of nurses report severe psychological distress, …

Multidisciplinary Workplace Wellness Committee To Improve Employee Engagement, Fatima Arastu, Helen Chen, Hillary Duncan, Rich Elles

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

Background: A healthy work environment is an active process that involves employees and the leadership team to meet the complexities of the health care settings. Post Pandemic, there’s been intentional efforts to redesign the worker well-being to reduce workplace stress and increase staff engagement (Grant et al., 2020, Lovejoy et.al., 2021). A healthy work environment is foundational to safety culture, as it promotes effective communication, collaboration, shared decisions-making, authentic leadership, and meaningful recognition (Grant et al., 2020, Vaughan, 2023). Employers have increasingly invested in workplace wellness programs to enhance employee health at the organizational level (Song & Baicker, 2019). However, …

Supporting A Healthy Work Environment By Attending To Nurse Mattering, Katherine Hall, Beth Epstein

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

Background: Mattering, the feeling that you make a difference and are significant to others,1 is endorsed by the U.S. Surgeon General as an essential part of a healthy work environment.2 Mattering is negatively associated with nursing burnout and turnover, and targeted interventions to enhance nurses’ perceptions of mattering may be useful for making systemic changes to the nursing work environment. 3,4 To-date there are no studies that explore how nurses perceive they matter at work.

Purpose: To explore aspects of the health care work environment that influence nurses’ perceptions of mattering and identify workplace changes that can be made to …

Nurse Advocacy: Elevating The Voice Of Nurses From The Bedside To The Capitol, Judy Ong Ho

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

Background: Workplace violence and nursing shortages are challenges for nurses. Studies have listed insufficient staffing and workplace violence as contributory factors to nurses leaving their jobs. This presentation aims to demonstrate how a healthcare system empowers, enables, and engages their nurses to collaborate with their Government Affairs team to advocate for resources and solutions through legislative efforts. Nurses use their professional expertise, knowledge, and experience to effectively communicate the challenges to the legislators.

Method: To prepare the nurses, training sessions, supplemented by FAQs were provided. Our healthcare system sponsored 80+ nurses to attend the 2023 Nurses Day at the Capitol …

The Power Of Wellness And Self-Care: Transforming Transition To Practice Programs, Vanessa Lopez, Grace Sekayan, Ghada Dunbar

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

In alignment with literature findings and program data, RNs transitioning into a new specialty experienced heightened levels of stress and anxiety related to role transitions and changes in workplace settings. The integration of a structured, evidence-based wellness program would prioritize the mental health, well-being, and self-care of experienced nurses entering a new practice setting. NPD Practitioners collaborated with organizational subject matter experts to develop resources & curriculum for the Transition to Practice Specialty RN Program to reduce stressors and enhance a positive experience & transition. Wellness Huddles were designed and integrated into the TTP program to support RN personal and …

The State Of Nursing Student Mental Health And Wellness Support As Perceived By Nursing Faculty, Catherine A. Stubin

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

Nursing education has consistently been associated with stress, anxiety, and depression among students (Fauzi et al., 2020; Milić et al., 2019). Demanding course loads, rigorous examinations, and continued pressure to attain a high-grade point average result in greater stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms among nursing students (Kim et al., 2021). Identifying key traits and manifestations of negative mental health wellness, as well as resilience-building strategies and supportive behaviors to assist students, are critical. Nursing faculty must have the knowledge to identify when symptoms are overwhelming, as well as provide necessary support, before students experience unhealthy symptoms and academic failure (Kells …

Living The Healthy Nurse Definition: Development And Personal Stories, Holly Carpenter

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

This session will describe how a national nurses association developed and updated the definition of a healthy nurse. The need for the updated definition as well as the methodology behind the development will be explored. Inspiring true-life stories of nurses exemplifying the new definition will be highlighted.

Advocating For Nurse Engagement: Cultivating Leadership And Resource Availability, Kasey Duffie Chance, Jacquelyn Smith, Brandy Simpler

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

Background: Approximately three million nurses report to work daily across the United States (Alexander et al., 2021). Despite this number, there is a critical nursing shortage that must be addressed (Bong, 2019). Nurses work in a high-demand profession that affects their ability to acquire or conserve resources to stay engaged and avoid burnout (Contreras et al., 2020; Paustian-Underdahl et al., 2023). Healthcare organizations must focus on retaining nurses by providing them with resources and tools to be engaged and provide quality care (Bong, 2019; Contreras et al., 2020; Othman & Nasurdin, 2019).

Methods: A review of literature was …

Discrimination Among Healthcare Professionals During The Covid-19 Crisis: A Phenomenological Study, Marjorie Fay Paredes Sta. Maria

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

This phenomenological research capture the phenomenon of discrimination among the nurses in the initial six months of the COVID-19 outbreak. Participants of the study comprised fifteen registered nurses from different government and private hospitals in the Philippines with the criterion sampling technique used in the selection of participants. The participants in the study were interviewed and responded to a series of semi-structured questions and the data thus collected were analyzed in a manner that was quite consistent with Colaizzi’s seven-stage phenomenological data analysis and reduction technique to be able to get to the very core and essence of the participants’ …

The Shift: Embracing Loving Kindness And Nurse Well-Being As A Standard Of Care, Margaret Mcgrath Brown, Jennifer Rodriguez

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

In response to mounting evidence of clinician burnout, the US Surgeon General declared a call to action, “we need to build a culture that supports well-being. It’s time to break the traditional silence surrounding the suffering of health workers”[1]. Our clinicians’ suffering in survival mode was confirmed by the findings from participation in a 2021 multi-site study among 60 Magnet hospitals evaluating clinician wellbeing[2].

Our organization embarked on a top-down/bottom-up approach rooted in loving kindness and personal and professional development. Over time, a shift has occurred, and an intentional transformation began towards viewing nurse well-being as a standard of care. …

Introduction Of Code Lavender To Support The Well-Being Of Clinical Staff After Critical Events, Shannon Souther, Eunyoung Lee, Milena Staykova

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

Debriefing after critical events can benefit individual healthcare workers and create a healthier work environment within the interdisciplinary team. The desire to participate in interdisciplinary debriefing (IDD) among healthcare workers has been expressed in previous studies. However, it may be difficult for workers to debrief without strong, hospital-wide support.

Purpose: A pilot study was conducted, intended to introduce and measure the feasibility of a new modality to deliver IDD, “Code Lavender.” The new process was aimed at addressing a known barrier to IDD by offering hospital support.

Methods/Implementation: IDD was implemented in 3 ICU settings over a 3-month period. Code …

Fostering Excellence Through Development Of A Code Stroke Response Nurse, Emma Bingham

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

Situation: Toronto Western Hospital (TWH) is a Regional Stroke Centre, meaning that patients suspected of stroke bypass other centres to access TWH. This designation results in care for neurologically complex patients, requiring efficient stroke protocols and proficient, knowledgeable clinicians. Notification of a patient en-route to the Emergency Department with a suspected stroke sets off a cascade of events that require a streamlined, coordinated approach; a Code Stroke.

Background: There were many factors reinforcing the need to reevaluate TWH’s Code Stroke protocol, including the change to administration of tenecteplase for ischemic stroke, significant wait times and subsequent unsafe patient ratios in …

Growing Dreams: Enabling Rural High School Students' Healthcare Career Futures Via A Summer Camp, Minerva Gonzales, Adrian Billings, John Dijo, Katie Miller

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

Rural health systems and hospitals are foundational to the health and economy of rural communities. Although rural healthcare organizations face multiple challenges, one of the most significant is recruitment and retention of the workforce. According to the American Hospital Association (2022), rural areas account for nearly 70% of Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs). In addition, recruitment to a rural community can be difficult and retainment is even more challenging (Cosgrave et al., 2019). With these challenges in mind, an interdisciplinary and multi-institutional team collaborated to initiate a rural healthcare summer camp for rural high school students from the region at …

Work Safety Climate, Heat-Related Illness, And Pesticide Risks Among Latino Farmworker Adolescents, Fiorella L.Carlos Chavez, Priscilla Carmiol-Rodriguez, Taylor J. Arnold, Evan P. Anderson, Alexandra Brewis, Amber Wutich, Keenan A. Pituch, Scott C. Carvajal, Thomas A. Arcury, David W. Coon

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

Among Latino farmworker adolescents (FWA), previous studies found that almost 50% reported HRI and symptoms while working in the fields and that being an older adolescent (compared to a younger one) increased the probability of reporting work-related injuries and HRI. Furthermore, Latino FWA often lack work experience, which could lead to unsafe occupational behaviors. Work safety climate (WSC) is the degree to which a worker perceives management values production over safety. Evidence suggests that weak WSC could lead farmworkers to engage in fewer safety procedures, increasing their risk of occupational injuries. Nevertheless, WSC research on HRI and pesticide risk (PR) …

Emergency Nurses’ Barriers To Caring For Psychiatric Boarders: A Theory Of Planned Behavior Approach, Rachel Keslar, Cindy Bacon

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

In 2021 around 2.5 million patients sought psychiatric care through the emergency department.¹ However, emergency department based psychiatric care has challenges including overcrowded hectic environments ^2–5 and prevalent patient violence.^2,4,5 This includes the practice of boarding where medically cleared patients cannot be dispositioned due to inadequate non-emergency department services6 and wait in the emergency department for hours, days, or longer.⁷ This leads to negative patient effects including increased vulnerability,³ distress,⁵ and violence.⁸ The purpose of this presentation is to show how the Theory of Planned Behavior was used to identify practice barriers in caring …

Exploring Secondary Traumatic Stress: The Frontline Psychiatric Mental Health Nurses' Perspective, Stacy Horowitz

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

Background: Research demonstrates that Psychiatric Mental Health Nurses (PMHNs) are affected by Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS). As many as 44% of PMHNs experience clinical levels of psychological distress and STS as compared to RNs in other specialties, including those in forensic nursing. Interventions that promote RN resilience are mentioned less frequently in this research.

Objectives: To explore frontline PMHNs’ perspective on STS and remaining safe and engaged at work on the inpatient behavioral health unit.

To solicit PMHNs’ input on helpful interventions to foster the development of "Universal Precautions" against STS.


Method: Eleven PMHNs participated in one of three focus …

Enhancing Resilience In Nursing Education Through The Lens Of Gratitude, Sarah B. Hathcock, Deanna B. Hiott, Carol K. Archuleta

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

Resilience has consistently been identified as a hallmark characteristic among individuals who invest themselves in the workplace, while also finding meaningfulness and happiness in their work (Keener et al., 2021). Moreover, resilience is a protective health factor essential to an individual’s ability to negate the harmful effects of stress; it is a construct linked to improved mental and physical health (Asensio-Martínez et al., 2019). Nursing faculty, like all nurses, have the personal responsibility to ensure they are employing practices to foster and maintain their personal well-being, while also contributing to a healthy work environment. The Three Good Things gratitude practice …