NURS 478 Self Care Journal

Your Name: __Jesse Smith__Your Buddy: __Bella Rahal__

Select any evidence-based intervention/recommendation to follow (do this over 8 weeks):

 Sleep at least 7 hours per night before and after a work or school day
 Practice mindfulness meditation for at least 10 minutes everyday
 Complete at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise per week, such as biking under 9
mph, dancing, jogging, or playing tennis; or complete 60 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise per week,
such as running, kickboxing, or jumping rope.
 Participate in two professionally led yoga classes for one hour or longer per week
 Spend up to 2 hrs in Nature or longer per week
 Other (Must get your Clinical Faculty approval first, and activity should be up to 2 hrs or longer
per week)

Complete Weekly journal entries:

Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time):
1 During this week I attempted to implement 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise a day
during the week and found this to be quite difficult amid my preceptorship shifts. By the time I got
home each night I was in no mood to complete additional exercise, and was leaving home more or less
just after I woke each day. I only managed to get exercise on two days this week for a total of 60
minutes. I used our total gym workout system at home to achieve this.
Comments on Activity: Finding time to specifically exercise on a shift day is extremely difficult.
Although the shifts are only supposed to be 12 hours I find myself staying for an extra hour or two most
every night.

Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time): This week, with
2 how much walking, and occasionally running, as we do during a shift on Tele I’ve decided to count my
shifts for a 30 minute period as well. However, all the same I did not meet my goal this week either. I
did however reach 120 minutes this week, so I was only one exercise period shy of my goal. On my off
days from the preceptorship I used a total gym workout system and biked a circuit around my
neighborhood.
Comments on Activity:
I think I overdid it with the biking a bit. The hardest thing about doing exercise is figuring out where to
be in terms of level of difficulty. In order to improve you have to push yourself, but push yourself too
far and you’ll wind up too sore the next day to work out. Having had three days in a row of
preceptorship shifts I was fairly sore the next day and not really able to start my exercise routine this
week as planned. I haven’t really noticed a difference in my stress levels, although it does help me feel a
little less restless when working on homework.

Buddy Check-In Comments: (Note Key Comments from Conversation)

Both of us were still in preceptorship shift, and we had our first 473 exam, She conducted mindfulness
meditation, which helped her with stress about the exam and assignments. She said she felt it really
helped her.

M O’C Fall 2018

Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time): This week I
3 continued to incorporate some biking into my routine, but adjusted my circuit to avoid some of the
steeper hills I was having trouble managing at the rate I was going. I again used a total gym workout
system. I only managed to reach 100 minutes total of my 150 minute goal, continuing to try 30 minute
blocks in a five day period.

Comments on Activity:
This week while my preceptorship ended, I was busy studying for the midterm exam, and exercising
sort of fell by the wayside. Part of the problem I suspect is that I still don’t really have a proper routine
in place, I tend to find time as I do in the day rather than schedule a time and stick to it.

Buddy Check-In Comments: (Note Key Comments from Conversation)

Bella did mindfulness for 10 minutes in both the morning and evening, exceeding the goal. She found it
helped her to stay calm and focused throughout the day.

Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time): I abandoned
4 biking as part of my exercising, as the bike began having problems, and incorporated a rowing machine
into the mix in its place for 10-15 minutes of the day. This week I hit my goal of 150 minutes as classes
began to shift online.

Comments on Activity:
Part way up a steep hill the previous week my bike’s chain decided to jump gears and I nearly fell off
when the pedals suddenly had no resistance. Until I and my dad can find time to tinker with it, it would
be better to leave it out of any routines. With classes all online and not needing to leave the house for
work I have more time free to exercise, but motivation is becoming an issue.
Buddy Check-In Comments: (Note Key Comments from Conversation)

Classes began to shift online, and she performed 5 minutes of mindfulness in the morning and afternoon
meeting her goal. She felt this really helped organize things.

Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time): During this week
5 I consistently worked out with the total gym and attained my goal of 150 minutes of workout time. I
tried to keep it to the same time each morning which helped some.

M O’C Fall 2018

 Comments on Activity:
Keeping it all at the same time each day I think was helpful to meeting the goal and remembering to
perform the exercise.

Buddy Check-In Comments: (Note Key Comments from Conversation)

Only did mindfulness for five minutes in the evening on schoolwork days, as she was adjusting to the
new schedule with online classes. She felt that it helped her gain a better grasp on the schedule.

Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time): This week I only
6 used the total gym workout system for my exercise, but did not reach my goal, only managing to
exercise for two days of the week, reaching only 60 minutes of my goal.

Comments on Activity:
This week we spent a significant amount of time in our online classes for 473. I spent much of this week
completing service learning hours for that class as well as professional development hours for 478.
When not in class or completing the numerous online training modules to fulfill my hours, I was
generally tired and often forgot to do my exercise. The timing varied this week as I had to work around
my online class schedule and tried to power through my other assignments in the morning when I had
been exercising.
Buddy Check-In Comments: (Note Key Comments from Conversation)

She did mindfulness every evening, reaching her goal. She noticed it helped her fall asleep faster, and it
was easier to do in the evenings when she did not have other responsibilities.

Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time): This week I
7 continued to use only the total gym as a means of working out. I unfortunately did not meet my goal this
week, only exercising for about 60 minutes total this week

Comments on Activity: I find myself greatly distracted at the moment, with the changes to school and
the multiple projects due this week and next, and it has made it very difficult to keep up with self-care in
general, let alone the activity for this assignment.

Buddy Check-In Comments: (Note Key Comments from Conversation)

She maintained the mindfulness meditation everyday she worked on schoolwork, but on off days she
tended to forget it, and did not met her goal consistently.

Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time): This week I met
8 my goal of 150 minutes, through a combined use of a total gym work out system, the rowing machine,
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 and a hike along nearby wilderness trails.

Comments on Activity: Looking back of the last 7 weeks I realized that I tended towards keeping my
goal when I varied my activities throughout the week and maintained a time to perform my exercise.
While the later was somewhat problematic this week, the former I could manage, and used what
variation I could to my routine to help me keep to the goal.

Complete Survey Below

(Once Completed submit entire document to D2L Assignment Drop box by Due date and add to Your
Portfolio.)

Reflection on Panopto presentation and 8-week intervention:

What did these activities teach you?

First of course that I need to work on finding a way to remind myself of doing things like exercise. I’ve
recently become more aware of the fact that I have a tendency to hyper-focus on tasks to the exclusion
of others. Secondly that exercising works well

Have you noticed any changes in your life since you began this intervention?

I’ve noticed that on days where I do participate in exercise I tend to be a little less restless than normal,
and can manage sitting for longer when working on homework.

Will you do anything differently now? Please explain.

First, I think I need to establish more of a schedule for exercise as when I practiced doing it in the
mornings, I was more apt to stick to my goals. Variety also seemed to help me, as sticking to a single
method of exercise decreased my likelihood of sticking to it.

Comments/suggestions:

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Please rate how strongly you agree or disagree with these statements:
Following an evidence-based recommendation to reduce burnout was valuable to me.

Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

Agree Disagree
5 4 3 2 1

This 8-week intervention will help me implement preventative strategies for burnout in my career.

Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

Agree Disagree
5 4 3 2 1

This Panopto presentation titled: “Nurse Burnout: What this is and how you can minimize it in your careers”
effectively taught me how I can reduce and address nurse burnout in my career.

Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

Agree Disagree
5 4 3 2 1

Completing the Big Five Personality Test was helpful for exploring my risk of nurse burnout.

Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

Agree Disagree
1 2 3 4 5

M O’C Fall 2018