Title : Building resilience: Acknowledging trauma in nursing
Abstract:
Nurses work through frequent, and often unrecognized, mental and physical challenges as part of their dedication to the profession. This level of dedication can often create patients out of nurses, and unmet expectations from our initial view of what it means to be a nurse. It’s vital to remind nurses, and teach students, that self-care is equally important; it’s essential (and ok) to ask for help when needed. Health Systems must be proactive vs. reactive when providing support for frontline clinicians as part of their strategic plan and quality review process. Covid allowed open vulnerabilities and more visualization into an already fragile system of expecting super skills and dedication from nurses without full support of their needs. What is your role in strengthening the nursing workforce?
In this session, we will begin to discuss resilience in nursing, and why it’s important. You will be challenged to recognize your current preparedness to care for patients or support nursing staff through internal and external stressors, challenges, and potential cumulative trauma. There will be situational case presentations of unexpected, and often unrecognized sources of stressors, in hopes of acknowledging and diminishing future trauma.
By the end of the session, you will be more familiar with the varied sources of stress, contributing lived experience/ trauma that may affect nursing care, and how to create support systems and coping skills to build resilience.
