ABSTRACT
This chapter covers the concept of self-care for the nurse. Nurse burnout is well documented in the literature. Nurses can be faced with long hours, shift work, stress, emotional fatigue, physical strain, secondary trauma, understaffing, and creating a work–life balance. Self-care and a healthy lifestyle can help to counterbalance these stressors. Lifestyle risk factors that impact nurses’ health can be related to areas such as diet, physical activity, stress management, and sleep. On average, American nurses have not achieved their optimal health status. Nurses have an ethical duty to self-care. It has been suggested that nurses provide the best care when they are healthy themselves. There are many potential barriers for nurses to engage in self-care, and these barriers need to be addressed at the individual, educational, employment, and public policy levels. The Nursing Code of Ethics, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, educational institutions, employers, healthcare organizations, and individual nurses all play a role in nurses’ self-care and well-being.
