[shalvoy.1]

Happy New Year!
I hope you all had great holidays.
We are starting off this year with articles discussing well-being for health care professionals.
This topic was chosen because some of our own incredible colleagues published this article:
Dying to retire or living to work Challenges facing aging nurses Hidinger, Julie BSN, RN, OCN; Lu-Hsu, Stephanie MBA, BSN, RN, OCN; Otis-Smith, Holly BSN, RN, OCN; De la Cruz, Edward BSN, RN; Palecek, Nancy MBA, BSN, RN, OCN

The second article is a systematic review of interventions for well-being for health care professionals authors including several OSU professors.
Interventions to Improve Mental Health, Well-Being, Physical Health, and Lifestyle Behaviors in Physicians and Nurses: A Systematic Review

Julie Hidinger has kindly offered to lead this month. Thanks again for your participation. I look forward to our discussion.

[goodman.100]

1. What was the knowledge gained from the article?
I had never realized the magnitude of ageism present in today’s nursing workforce. After reading the article, I can recall specific instances of ageism in conversations and practice. I will be more diligent on not contributing to ageism and to gently confront it when I observe it in coworkers.

2. Will the research/information in this article change or influence your practice? If so how?
I am 44 years old, putting me right between younger and older nurses. I will use my connection and proximity to nurses in different age groups to try to bridge the gap between these different age groups. I can appreciate the perspective of each of these age groups and will use that empathy to enhance interaction.

I definitely need to schedule a massage soon.

I already practice mindfulness on a daily basis, and have been recently embracing taking more vacation time.

3. What other questions does the article raise about current practice?
Like many others at OSU, I have been disappointed and frustrated by the decrease in the number of assistive nursing personnel, specifically PCA’s. There are multiple reasons for this decrease which I won’t begin discussing here, but the result is increased workload on nurses. Especially on inpatient units, having more hands to assist with patient care decreased physical strain on everyone involved. Unfortunately, that is not as much of an option anymore.
I appreciate the resources OSU makes available to us, but often it is overwhelming and difficult to find. Don’t remember how to operate that patient lift? Where are the instructions? Somewhere on OneSource? Want to find a specific piece of information on a small feature in IHIS? Good luck navigating the IHIS website on OneSource to find what you’re looking for, especially during a busy shift.

4. Do you agree/disagree with the conclusions of the author, why?
I love all the suggestions from the article- I had never thought of adult care for nurses that take care of aging relatives! I have watched my father and his sisters take care of his 95-year-old mother for several years, and their frustration with lack of options and the high cost of adult care.

The second article from Melnyk, et al (2020) just reinforced the points made in the article from our very own colleagues Hidinger, et al (2022).

Hidinger, J., Lu-Hsu, S., Otis-Smith, H., De la Cruz, E., & Palecek, N. (October 2022). Dying to retire or living to work: Challenges facing aging nurses. Nursing 2022, 52(10), 20-27. DOI: 10.1097/01.NURSE.0000872452.10766.fd

Melnyk, B. M., Kelly, S.A., Stephens, J., Dhakal, K., McGovern, C., Tucker, S., Hoying, J., McRae, K., Ault, S., Spurlock, E., & Bird, S. (November 2020). Interventions to Improve Mental Health, Well-Being, Physical Health, and Lifestyle Behaviors in Physicians and Nurses: A Systematic Review. American Journal of Health Promotion 34(8): 929–941. doi:10.1177/0890117120920451

[shawver.25]

I am Jeff, one of the ambulatory JCRU nurses.

What was the knowledge gained from the article?
I found that it is crazy an estimated 2 million years of nursing experience to potentially retire by this year. That is a plethora of knowledge and experience. I understand the exodus of nurses- we have been asked to do more with less ever since early 2020 and the global pandemic started. Nursing has the potential to be a taxing career and then add in those figures. The amount of health problems was eye opening although believable. I’m 33 and been a nurse for 11+ years and there are numerous times my back already is feeling much older. I can’t confirm this, but with America as a whole becoming more obese, it could potentially lead to more musculoskeletal issues for nurses. The article talks about how some of the technological changes have contributed to nurses wanting to retire younger. Technology is a great tool to utilize and make providing high level care for our patients easier.

Will the research/information in this article change or influence your practice? If so how?
These articles just reinforce how us as nurses need to take care of ourselves (regardless of how many years we have been a nurse). I try to workout 4-5 times a week to keep myself healthy and to be able to care for our patients. These articles reinforced that I need to keep taking time for myself. The articles gave light to focus on more than just physical side of health but mental and social amongst others.

What other questions does the article raise about current practice?
I think it is great that OSU is starting the LSA starting this year. It really makes me question if this was started as a result of our colleges research or if other institutions have already been utilizing this incentive? I wonder if these program will continue and if so how it might expand? (I’m not expecting answers to these questions as the LSA is still brand new). How can institutions promote more overall healthy initiatives?

Do you agree/disagree with the conclusions of the author, why?
I agree with these authors- I know they put an immense amount of work into this article. They put into writing what so many of us were thinking about nursing and how we felt about it. Nursing can be a draining profession and we need to take time for ourselves and promote our health.

[shawver.25]

Greg- you are beyond accurate with OSU having resources available but it’s not conducive/ easy to find answers. OneSource is absolutely awful to try and search for anything. So many times I have tried to find something, whether it be a policy or just more information, and no dice. I search common terminology or even medical terminology and of course the article I’m looking for has none of those descriptive terms. It has led me to not even try and find it on OneSource but rather just trust credible sources from a quick Google Search.

[conrad.369]

Hello! I am Katie Conrad from ambulatory JCRU.

1. Will the research/information in this article change or influence your practice? If so how?

It is a no brainer that stress is bad for one’s overall health. As pointed out in the article “Dying to retire or living to work: Challenges facing aging nurses”, stress can lead to poor immune responses, cardiovascular disease, body injuries and much more. I for one am not immune to this and am starting see very unhealthy results from adverse effects of stress on myself. I have made this my number one priority this year and both articles are strong reminders that if I would like to have a long healthy future I need to take initiative. One thing that I have looked into is joining the mindfulness study through OSU. This study involves individualized data obtained through the Oura Ring.

2. What other questions does the article raise about current practice?

Currently OSU has some supportive and resiliency programs, and I can remember going through a program called Heart Math at an outside hospital. I also can remember participating in programs here at OSU and the OSH and still struggling with resiliency. My question is does facilities look at these programs as a tool to help with resiliency or does it look at it as an answer? I say this because it seems staffing issues and higher demand for the profession contributes the most to loss of resiliency and stress.

3. What was the knowledge gained from the article?

I found a lot of information from both articles interesting specifically regarding agism. I found it interesting that the first article points out that nurses who have longer years of service can be excluded from valuable education. Perhaps managers feel that more experienced nurses are already knowledgeable in a certain subject matter and won’t benefit quit as much as an inexperienced RN. This doesn’t make sense as we all know there are new things to learn every day and expanding everyone’s knowledge should be fair and equal. I can’t say that I am shocked that more nurses will be retiring earlier. In fact, I am a little jealous. I do hope we as professionals can have open conversations regarding agism and take away all around understanding.

[conrad.369]

Jeff- You bring up a good point with LSA. I am happy OSU is moving a positive direction with reimbursing employees for healthier lifestyle. When there is money to specifically spend towards something I am most likely to follow through. Have you seen the mindfulness studies? I received information on one study that is starting in the Spring and involved movement and moods.

[goodman.100]

Jeff- I am already thinking about how to spend my LSA money. I haven’t gotten acupuncture in over a year and am assuming I’ll do that again. Acupuncture is what saved my back. I had tried lidocaine patches, heat packs, I have TENS unit, I had seen a physical therapist, and massage. But acupuncture is what finally relieved the pain. I should keep up with it so I don’t end up where I was when I worked inpatient. I definitely think the LSA is a lot more useful than a regular FSA or DCA since there are so many more options. It seems like almost anything is covered. I hope they not only keep this program but expand it in the future.

[goodman.100]

Katie- I am also jealous of those that retire. I am hoping to retire early. My current goal is age 60 but we’ll see what my finances look like then. I don’t want to be one of those nurses that works so long they cannot enjoy retirement because of all the physical ailments our profession gives us. I also practice mindfulness every day with the Calm app. I have found it very helpful in the long term to increase my resilience- it has taught me mental and physical exercises I can turn to in times of high stress. I hope you find success in your study!

[conrad.369]

Greg you bring up a good point when you mention you do not want to be a nurse unable to enjoy retirement because of the professions physical toll on the body. The first article brings that to life so much and makes me realize that my choices I make now have profound effects on my future. I was looking into the LSA account information and found this link https://yp4h.osu.edu/resources/get-active/fitness-discounts/ which is discounted health and wellness services OSU employees can use. Wanted to share just in case someone was interested in these services and wanted a discount.

[shawver.25]

Thanks for links to additional discounts Katie! It seems that the LSA basically covers anything which is really nice. Greg where did you get accupuncture? I have heard people rave about it but I’ve never had it done.

[burk.109]

1. What was the knowledge gained from the article?
I found it quite interested that the average age of retirement in the workforce was 58 years. I found this surprising as I wonder about nurses’ retirement funding to support this, insurance, etc. Working for a facility where the retirement contributions are much better than other previous employers, it really goes to show that the physical and mental burnout can play a role in retiring earlier than other job fields.
2. How will the research in the articles change current practice?
I think that it is common knowledge that physical and mental burnout is a huge thing in our profession. For me personally the pandemic really brought this to the forefront. I think that it is so important for nurses to decompress and take time for self-care in order to; A. be a better nurse but B. and most importantly to me be a better person at home.
3. Do you agree/disagree with the authors.
Yes, I agree with the authors of these articles. It is amazing how much damage we could actually be doing to our bodies if we do not take the proper approaches to take care of ourselves.

Megan Burk SSCBC

[smith.10494]

1. What was the knowledge gained?
A lot of knowledge was gained. While researching articles for this article, I was shocked to find the average age of a nurse was 50s, and not just in the states, but pretty much all over the world. With what seems to be the big push for newer nurses to become nurse practitioners, it seems this problem will only get worse, I fear.
One doesn’t really think about what it means to age until you find yourself older. Lots of older nurses are taking care of their older parents while dealing with their own physical ailments, but they are too young to retire or can’t afford to …as we read, so they are basically working around the clock. Older nurses are dealing with so many things that are brought on with age on top of the daily grind of working…death of spouses, friends, parents, etc.
It was good to see that many hospitals recognize the aging workforce and have taken some action to accommodate older staff, but unfortunately, the same hospitals run short staffed regularly which places a bigger burden on all nurses, and this affects them mentally and physically.
The second article highlights staffing issues/burnout that started several years prior to 2020, and as we all know, the pandemic further worsened it so this just highlights that staffing and burnout have been an ongoing issue for nurses for a very long time.
2.Will this information change/influence my practice?
I don’t know if it will change my practice. I am one of the “aged nurses”. I do think there are some issues with age discrimination and I am forever hating the IHIS updates, but I don’t see it too much because most of the nurses I work with are older and they are James nurses. The James nurses, by far, have more compassion, and our relationship based care model leads how we treat each other, young and old.
3. What questions does the article raise about current practice?
One issue that stand out to me is that we are understaffed, so the employer can offer all kinds of programs and classes to help with stress, burnout, resiliency…but if you are too busy to get away to utilize them, what good are they to us? I appreciate the attempt, but I am a little jaded that it is really for nurses. It seems likely it is more for Magnet and marketing so they can say they are great because they offer these things to help their RNs.
Maybe they should consider making these classes required as part of the job (paid) or some way to make these offerings more accessible to the staff. It’s impossible to get away from bedside if your unit is short staffed. We see this with the shared governance committees. RNs can’t go because it further shorts the staffing. Investment in more staff would be a big help to reduce burn out. It wouldn’t solve it, but certainly could take the edge off.
Another issue is that burnout and decreased resiliency isn’t just due to aging and/or short staffing (and the other things mentioned). It is heartbreaking to take care of such sick patients and their families, day after day. Patients and their families are increasingly angry and violent. Nurses have lives outside of work and often work doesn’t end when it is supposed to and important things are missed, like kid’s games or dinner with the family, etc.
4.Do you agree or disagree with the authors?
Of course, I do not. 🙂

[smith.10494]

Greg, I am super excited to retire too! Can’t wait, in fact! I too would like to retire somewhere from 60-62.
I don’t use an app, but do practice mindfulness every morning while stretching after my shower. It really makes a huge difference.
I would like to try accupuncture, but have no idea how to pick a good one. If you have any tips, please advise.

[smith.10494]

Katie,
I too am glad that OSU has implemented the LSA. I am glad to see them invest in their employees this way and hopefully it is a sign it is important to invest in employee wellness in ways that allow the employee to do what might work best for them. That study you mentioned sounds very interesting.

[goodman.100]

The place I go for acupuncture is called North Star Acupuncture and it is in Westerville, about one block south of St Paul church: https://northstaracupuncture.net/
I see Ryley Redfern. Full disclosure: he is my brother-in-law’s half brother, but I think he does a really good job. He can explain to me what he is doing and how he is treating me from the perspectives of traditional Eastern medicine or modern Western medicine, but I usually just say “I don’t care, just make the pain go away.” I have talked to several patients that tried acupuncture, and some say it was pointless while others found relief like me. The point is there are many different treatment options, and not all of them work on everyone. I’m glad the LSA makes some treatment options more affordable though.

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