NURS 478 Self Care Journal

Your Name: ____Jaicee Morrow______ Your Buddy: _____Brianna D’Angelo_____

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
This week, I implemented the intervention of sleeping at least 7 hours per night before and after a work
or school day. I planned to have at least 7 hours of sleep on 4 days, the night before my first clinical
shift, each day between the shifts, and during the day after my third shift. I successfully slept over 7
hours combined on 3 out of 4 of these days. On September 25th, my last shift of the week, I only slept a
total of 6 hours due to a staff meeting for my job which I had to attend at 3pm via Zoom.

Comments on Activity:

I chose this intervention to implement because I am working night shifts for my preceptorship, and I
was very worried about my ability to adjust to this new schedule. Overall, I did feel more rested when I
had received at least 7 hours of sleep before and after these preceptorship days. However, as my
bedroom is quite bright during the day, I was not always guaranteed good quality sleep since I some
days I woke up multiple times throughout the sleep.
Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time):
2
This week, I continued to implement the intervention of sleeping at least 7 hours per night before and
after a work or school day. On September 30th, October 1st and 2nd I did receive 7 or more hours of sleep
each night/day. However, on October 4th after my third clinical shift of the week I only slept for about 4
hours in the morning with the intention of going to sleep early in the evening.

Comments on Activity:

On October 2nd, although I did sleep the minimum of 7 hours, I noted that I felt more tired than usual
during that night shift. On October 4th, I got home from the hospital, fell asleep by 9AM and I woke up
at 1PM. When I woke up at 1PM I picked up my cell phone and got distracted browsing various apps
which made me less tired. This was the primary reason I did not attempt to fall back asleep. However, I
knew that I did not have school or clinical the following day and staying awake would allow me to get a
full night’s sleep to get on a normal sleep schedule.
Buddy Check-In Comments: (Note Key Comments from Conversation)
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 I checked-in with my buddy, Brianna D’Angelo, in the afternoon of October 4th. When I mentioned that
I had only slept for 4 hours immediately after my night shift, she was surprised. She suggested that I try
to fall back asleep for a few more hours. Since I mentioned the distracting phone usage, she also
recommended I create a designated area for my phone to be placed when I sleep. I thought that this was
good advice that I will try next week before and after my night shifts.
Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time):
3
In week 3, I continued to care for myself by implementing my goal of sleeping for at least 7 hours per
night before and after school or work. On 10/6 I took a 30-minute nap before my night shift. I then left
the night shift at 3AM and slept for 3 ½ hours before the 8AM midterm. I only slept for 2 more hours
after the exam and before my shift. This means that I only received 5 ½ hours of sleep between shifts.
On 10/8 I was able to sleep for 7 ½ hours before my third shift. Then on 10/9 after my last shift of the
week, I slept for 7 hours during the day, woke up in the afternoon, and slept for another 11 hours that
night.
Comments on Activity:

This was a difficult week for me to complete my self-care intervention due to the midterm and working
the night shift prior to the exam. I struggled to fall asleep after the midterm on 10/7, and took some
melatonin to help me fall back asleep. The following night I received over 7 hours of sleep and felt
better than prior nights but not exceptional. After my last shift of the week I slept for 7 hours and was
worried I would not be able to sleep that night, however I was able to sleep for over 10 hours as my
body was exhausted from the week.
Buddy Check-In Comments: (Note Key Comments from Conversation)

I checked in with Brianna again at the end of this week. She began the conversation by asking if I had
attempted to designate a phone area in my room, which I had failed to. Brianna circled back to the idea
of attempting to designate a spot in my room for my phone. She also understood why I had one day of
poor sleep habits due to the midterm since this was a situational occurrence.
Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time):
4
This week as I implemented my self-care of sleeping for 7+ hours prior to and following school/work, I
slept for 8 hours on 10/12, 7 hours on 10/13, 7 ½ hours on 10/14 and approximately 8 hours on 10/15.
Comments on Activity:
This week I felt well rested upon waking up each day. I did attempt to implement the idea of moving my
phone away from the bed before sleeping which was beneficial in ensuring I reached the 7-hour goal of
sleep.

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

When I checked in with Brianna this week, she suggested that I add another weekly intervention such as
completing 150 minutes of exercise each week because I have been sleeping well since I finished my
night shifts.
Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time):
5
On week 5, I continued to implement the intervention of sleeping at least 7 hours before and after school
days. I slept 7 ½ hours on 10/19, 8 hours on 10/20, 8 hours on 10/21, and 8 ½ hours on 10/22. In
addition, I implemented the intervention of completing at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity
exercise this week. On Sunday the 18th, I went surfing for 60 minutes, then on the 23rd, I completed a
M O’C Fall 2018
 short high intensity interval training (HIIT) video of 22 minutes, and on the 24th I went on a 78-minute
hike.
Comments on Activity:

This was a great week of implementing my self-care interventions. I successfully slept for over 7 hours
on each day before and after school days. I have found that it is much easier to reach my goal of
implementing this intervention since my preceptorship ended a couple weeks ago. Additionally, I began
to implement the second intervention of exercising each week and I felt great after completing these 3
exercises for the week. I have always loved how I feel after exercising, but when I feel busy with
school, I will make excuses for not exercising.
Buddy Check-In Comments: (Note Key Comments from Conversation)

I checked in with Brianna during a hike on Saturday morning. She reflected that it was great that I was
both getting sleep and beginning to implement exercise as she suggested the week before. She asked if I
have changed any of my habits/routines before going to sleep at night. I told her that I have not yet
changed my routines before sleep but that I was hoping to begin reading at night before sleeping instead
of going on my phone.
Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time):
6
On week 6 I continued to implement the intervention of ensuring I receive adequate sleep at night. On
the night of Monday, the 26th, I slept for 8 hours prior to my clinical day on Tuesday. I then slept around
7- 7 ½ hours on 10/27, 8 hours on 10/28, and 7 ½ hours on 10/29 following my Thursday 473 clinical
day. I also continued to track my weekly exercise this week. On 10/26 I went on a 28-minute run, on
10/30 I completed a 13-minute HIIT video, and on 10/31 I went on another 28-minute run. Therefore, I
also successfully completed over 60 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise.

Comments on Activity:

This was another successful week of implementing self-care practices. I felt well-rested and energized,
especially on the days that I exercised in addition to sleeping well. I did not add in reading prior to
sleeping.
Buddy Check-In Comments: (Note Key Comments from Conversation)

Brianna reflected this week that my sleep and exercise schedules had both improved from when I was in
clinical. We both met our goals successfully this week and encouraged each other to keep up the good
work these last few weeks.

Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time):

7
This week, I continued to complete both the self-care activities of sleeping at least 7 hours at night and
working out. On 11/1 I completed 18 minutes of yoga and 10 minutes of core workouts. On 11/2 I
completed a 20 minute HIIT workout and then slept for 8 hours overnight. On 11/3 I went on a 20-
minute walk and slept for 8 ½ hours in the night. I received 9 hours of sleep on 11/4 and 8 hours on
11/5. On 11/7 I went on an 18-minute run.
Comments on Activity:

This week I received adequate sleep every night. However, I only completed 48 minutes of moderate-
intensity exercise and 38 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise. I had no changes to my sleep routine
this week.
M O’C Fall 2018
 Buddy Check-In Comments: (Note Key Comments from Conversation)

This week Brianna and I discussed how I exercised many days this week, but I did not exercise for very
long periods of time. She asked why I thought that was and I told her that I have been working out on
my own and think that I would be more motivated if I was in a gym or a class surrounded by other
people. She told me it was still great that I completed a variety of exercises this week.

Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time):

8
For the final week of tracking self-care activities, I continued to successfully sleep for over 7 hours at
night before and after school nights. On the night of 11/9 I slept for 8 hours, on 11/10 I slept for 8 ½
hours, on 11/11 I slept for 7 ½ hours, and on 11/12 I slept for 8 hours. I also continued to add on the
self-care intervention of getting adequate exercise throughout the week. I completed a 17-minute HIIT
workout on 11/9, a 35-minute HIIT workout on 11/11, attended a 57-minute HIIT class on 11/13, and a
51-minute hike on 11/14.

Comments on Activity:
This was an excellent week of implementing both interventions. I did not have any night where I was
unable to get adequate sleep, and I always felt well-rested. I completed 109 minutes of vigorous-
intensity exercise and 51 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise. This week I spent the most time
completing vigorous-intensity exercise compared to the previous 3 weeks when I began to track this
additional intervention.
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?

I learned from the Panopto presentation that both organizational factors and personal factors contribute
to nurse burnout. The presentation taught me that longer sleep duration is strongly related to lower nurse
burnout. The 8-week intervention made it clear that I consistently felt more energized and excited for
the day to come when I woke up after at least 7 hours of sleep as compared to the few days when I only
received 5-6 hours of sleep during the weeks of my preceptorship.

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

Since I began this intervention, I noticed myself becoming more aware of the time when lying in bed
using my phone at night. During these last few weeks I would tell myself that I needed to put my phone
away and fall asleep by a certain time in order to get 7 hours of sleep based on the time my alarm would
be going off in the morning.

Will you do anything differently now? Please explain.

After this intervention and going into my future career, I will continue to try to receive 7 hours of sleep
before and after each working day in order to limit my chances of becoming burnt out. I will also
continue to track my weekly exercises.

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 Comments/suggestions:
N/A

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