Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation™ - Champion Spotlight Series - R³ – The Renewal, Resilience, And Retention Of Maryland Nurses Initiative
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Organization boosts nurse resiliency with online learning lab
We are pleased to shine the spotlight on R³ – the Resilient Nurses Initiative of Maryland.
The R3 team is providing a 3-part nursing faculty workshop series for its R3 Faculty Champions from their partner schools of nursing. The goal is to prepare faculty to authentically deliver content and lead breakthrough initiatives in their schools of nursing. R3 includes an online learning lab created with support from the Nurse Support Program (NSP) II grant. Through the grant, R3 is working to renew, retain, and amplify the resilience and integrity of nurses living and working in Maryland. That includes nursing students, educators, and practicing nurses in all roles and specialties.
The program shares some of the most ground-breaking, innovative, and impactful models of resilience and ethical practice. Through resources, research, papers, and insights, R3 aims to highlight best practices that:
- Improve nurses’ physical, emotional, and moral well-being
- Strengthen nurses’ transition from nursing school to clinical practice
- Help shift the culture toward one that supports the integrity and resilience of students, faculty, and practicing nurses
By partnering with 8 schools of nursing, 5 hospitals, and a 36-hospital nurse residency consortium, R3 puts priceless material into the hands (and minds) of nurses. It offers 20 education modules that focus on different aspects of resiliency and ethical practice. The goal is for nursing educators to conveniently incorporate the modules into their existing lesson plans.
Battling Burnout and Moral Distress With Resiliency
Nurses are already resilient, and R3 is trying to keep them that way. The education modules, which are available to nurses in Maryland after submitting an online form, help support this effort with topics like:
- Mindfulness as a foundation for self-regulation and self-awareness
- Ethical decision-making and integrity
- Self-stewardship and knowing ourselves
- How to create and use your moral compass
Over the next few months, they will be sharing more of the 20 modules developed by the R3 team.
“We’re constantly asking, ‘How do we create environments in schools of nursing that support integrity, resilience, and ethical practice?’” says Cynda Hylton Rushton PhD, RN, FAAN, chief synergy strategist for R3. “Nurses are the heart of health care — without their competence, compassion, and courage, the health care system is unsustainable.”
Resiliency isn’t a constant state — it involves both individual and organizational investment for nurses to prosper. That’s why R3 addresses root causes of burnout, moral adversity, and disengagement to improve well-being and ignite nurses with resiliency from the beginning of their careers onward.
“Our approach is unique because these skills need to start on someone’s first day of nursing school, then get integrated into the practice environment and throughout their nursing career,” says Cynda. “R3 is trying to bridge that gap, recognizing that we need to prepare nursing students for the realities they face in clinical practice — but not overlooking the important role schools and health care organizations play in creating environments for nurses to thrive.”
R3 also hosts unique events, like The Nurse Antigone in partnership with Theater of War Productions. Through 12 performances over the next year in the virtual zoom amphitheater, it features a dramatic reading of Sophocles’ Antigone to help frame powerful, guided discussions about challenges faced by nurses. The performances are free, and all nurses are welcome to join in this vibrant national community.
Stories of Resiliency
Another way nursing students, faculty, and practicing nurses can get involved with R3 is by sharing their personal stories. The R3 team encourages website visitors to describe:
- A situation when resilience was needed
- How their resilience shined through
- What helped them maintain resiliency (i.e., mindfulness, taking a break, etc.)
- How they’ll remember their resources in this resilient situation in the future
By reading submitted stories, nurses can feel connected to others who’ve faced similar, challenging situations. The stories bring nurses together in resilient solidarity.
And to focus on complete nurse well-being, R3 also shares links to Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation™ (HNHN) resources regularly. They plan to include the HNHN assessment in their efforts to engage nursing faculty and students in exploring their journey of self-stewardship.
“Nurses are a precious resource that must be protected and supported so they can serve those in most need of their care,” says Cynda. “That’s what R3 aims to do.”
What does your organization do to promote nurse well-being? Share with us in our discussion below.
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Blog Champion Spotlight
05/31/2022 12:52pm CDT
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