NURS 478 Self Care Journal

Your Name: Drake Gross Your Buddy: Brianna Salzetti

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 I chose to do the 7 hours of sleep before and after school and clinical nights. This week I was able to get

8 hours of sleep every day before and after school and clinical except for on Monday when I got 6.

Comments on Activity: I found that on the days where I got the full 8 hours of sleep, I had more energy

during the day, but I did feel like it took me longer to wake up. I think it may be worth trying to sleep

around the 7-hour mark exactly or maybe 7 ½ hours.

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

2 This week I chose to continue with trying to get 7 hours of sleep before and after school and clinical

nights. This week I was able to get around 7½ hours of sleep every night before and after my clinicals

and school days.

Comments on Activity:

I found that my change in sleep schedule this week was enough to provide me with the energy that I

needed and also did not make me overwhelmingly groggy like the full 8 hours in the previous week had.

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

● She was able to spend 4 hours total outside this week.

● She said this helped her feel free from social media.

● She also noted that doing so allowed her to spend more time with and feel closer to her friends.

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

3 This week I chose to try to spend 10 minutes per day doing mindfulness meditation. I was not only able

to complete this activity, but I actually had three days where I was able to do mindfulness meditation for

20 minutes (Monday, Tuesday, and Friday).

Comments on Activity:

I found having this as a daily activity was very helpful for not only quelling any of the anxiety that I had

been experiencing that day but also for allowing me time to reflect on my day and discover what I was

most grateful for.

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

● This week she went on three 20-minute walks and spent two hours outside eating lunch.

● She mentioned that being in nature helped her feel refreshed.

● She also said that the beauty of the nature around her helped her to feel grateful for where she

lived.

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

4 This week I spent three hours in nature. This time was split between 3 days and each day I spent about

an hour in nature.

Comments on Activity:

Overall, I feel that this activity really helped me to feel connected to my surroundings, and I found that

the fresh air brought me a sense of tranquility and happiness.

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

● She spent 4 hours total outside this week.

● She said that she spent time outside while studying for the 473 exam and reading Harry Potter.

● She mentioned that this made her feel less distracted and made it easier for her to focus.

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

5 This week I chose to sleep at least 7 hours a night before and after school and workdays. Not only was I

successful in completing this task but I was able to get 7.5 hours of sleep every night of the week.

Comments on Activity:

As I have mentioned previously, 7.5 hours seems to be the sweet spot for me where I am able to wake

up feeling refreshed without feeling groggy. Also, this week I found that having the right amount of

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 energy was particularly useful as my body was still getting used to shifting my schedule back and forth

between day and night shift.

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

● She spent 6 hours this week in nature.

● Similar to previous weeks she mentioned that this helped her to study distraction free.

● She also found that doing so was more calming than studying in her apartment.

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

6 This week I chose to do 60 minutes of intense aerobic activity for the week. Specifically, on Monday,

Wednesday, and Friday this week I chose to spend roughly 30 minutes doing guided boxing exercises.

This gave me a total of 90 minutes of intense aerobic activity.

Comments on Activity:

While I did enjoy this activity, I think I could have organized the days that I chose to do the exercises

more effectively. Specifically, I set the days that I exercised to be every other day, thinking that this

would give me more time to recover. However, because I had clinical some of the days this week, I

found that I did not always get to enjoy the after feeling of exercise because I was already exhausted

from clinical. If I choose to do this activity again in the future, I will try only doing these activities on

the days that I am off and see if that makes a noticeable difference in the way I feel.

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

● She spent 2 ½ hours outside this week.

● Felt like this time helped her to feel more connected to those she was spending time with.

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 ● She also felt like she was more engaged in the conversations that she had.

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

7 This week I chose to do mindfulness for at least 10 minutes each day. I was successful in completing

this task and was actually able to do roughly 15 minutes every day this week. I found that the most

effective way for me to complete this mindfulness was either right as I woke up or right before I went to

bed.

Comments on Activity:

During this experience, I found that the best time to complete this activity was actually right before I

went to bed as doing so allowed me to work through the thoughts about either school or clinical that I

still had in my mind. This helped me to feel more relaxed and ultimately to fall asleep more easily.

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

● She spent 2 ½ hours outside this week reading a book.

● Mentioned that it helped her clear her mind and really gear up for the rest of the semester.

● Unfortunately, she did mention that she wished she was able to spend more time outside this

week but was unable to due to her preceptorship.

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

8 For my final week of this self-care journal I wanted to once again focus on sleeping a full 7 hours before

and after work and school. However, my real goal was to get at least 7 hours of sleep each night

regardless of what I had that day or the day after. I wanted to prioritize this because I have been

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 struggling to maintain a proper sleep schedule on the days that I do not have my preceptorship which

also makes it harder to get schoolwork done efficiently.

Comments on Activity: This activity was extremely helpful for me this week as it helped keep my

energy levels high and allowed me to get my schoolwork done more effectively.

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?

These activities taught me the importance of structuring your working life to include time for yourself.

In other words, it helped me to learn how I can spend more time in my everyday life focusing on myself

and what I need to be the most productive.

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

I have noticed a few changes since I began these interventions. Specifically, I noticed that I felt calmer

and more energetic than I had previously with the implementation of both the intervention of sleeping

more and meditating. I also felt more connected with my surroundings and really began to feel more in

touch with my emotions. Overall, these things helped me to feel more healthy and like I was making

substantial progress toward growing as a person.

Will you do anything differently now? Please explain.

The largest thing that I will do now, especially with school beginning to wrap up is use the extra time

that I have to focus on myself. As we have learned over the past two years, the best way to provide

competent care is to ensure that you are taking care of yourself first. As such, I would like to continue to

get at least 7 hours of sleep per night and maintain some form of mindfulness practice to ensure that I

keep my own mental health in peak condition.

Comments/suggestions: The best suggestion that I can offer for this activity is to maybe approach it

more gradually. When given assignments like these I tend to view the goals as though they must be

accomplished perfectly every time and as such, making time for some of these activities was difficult in

the first few weeks and I feel like it would have been better if I more gradually worked towards it. With

this being said I know this was technically an option, but for people like me it may need to be more

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 explicitly stated.

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

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