The nursing shortage isn’t just for staff nursing. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing colleges of nursing are turning away qualified applicants due to the nursing faculty shortage (AACN, 2022). Though there are many initiatives federally and statewide to try to improve the void, it will take time and nursing faculty are feeling the stress daily. These are tough times for the nursing profession and self-care is even more important to ensure you are showing up each day at your best. Without taking care of ourselves, burnout increases. It makes sense that if we take more care of ourselves, we will feel less anxiety and overall, could decrease nurse burnout. We teach our students to incorporate self-care into their daily lives so they can be the best nurse. Do we practice what we preach? Isn’t it just as important to do self-care as an instructor so we can be the best for our students?
So, checking in with you, are you doing any sort of self-care?
Here are a few tips to give yourself some extra love and recharge yourself.
- Meditation: start with 5 minutes a day. Take slow deep breaths and concentrate on each breath, freeing your mind of everything but your breath.
- Exercise: go for a walk, jog, lift weights, go to the gym. Anything that you enjoy.
- Take a break: make sure you are taking breaks – get up and move around, talk with a colleague, call a friend.
- Nutrition: eat healthy nutritious foods.
- Read: find a book of interest, take time each day to read a few pages.
- Journal: reflect on positive accomplishments of the day.
- Activities: draw, craft, do a puzzle, play a game – any activities that gives you joy
- Sleep: make sure you are getting the appropriate amount of sleep each night.
- Work hours: be mindful of how many hours you are working
- Get away: try to vacation or get away during breaks
There are so many little and big things nurse educators can do for self-care and to stay energized. Put yourself first… it isn’t selfish, you can only give what you have…
AACN. (2022). Nursing faculty shortage fact sheet. https://www.aacnnursing.org/news-data/fact-sheets/nursing-faculty-shortage