ANA Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation® Blog: Ready to Improve Your Well-Being?
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An easy first step is taking the HealthyNurse™ survey
Every nurse understands the importance of triage. Before you can help a patient, a preliminary assessment helps determine issues, urgency, and priorities of action.
Triage can also be a useful tool if you are striving to be a healthy nurse. Assessing your mental and physical well-being consistently can help highlight which habits and areas to prioritize when focusing on self-care.
"If your goal is to improve or maintain your well-being, the first step is understanding where you are right now," says American Nurses Association (ANA) research manager Alison Cuccia, DrPH, MSPH (pictured, left). "Then, you can create goals and resolutions to help you get where you want to go."
One quick and easy way to assess your well-being is to take the HealthyNurse™ survey. In less than 10 minutes, you learn where you are thriving and where to focus your self-care efforts. Retaking the HealthyNurse™ survey annually can help keep your self-care efforts on track for your optimal well-being.
What You Can Learn From the HealthyNurse™ Survey
The HealthyNurse™ survey underwent a significant revision in 2024. It’s quicker and easier to take, and the survey now uses validated measures and scales to capture information across all 6 Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation® key domain areas of focus:
Your results are delivered in an easy-to-read ring graphic. Each domain correlates to a different ring. The ring's length and color — green, yellow, or red — helps you visualize whether that domain is an area of strength for you or whether it may need more attention.
"The goal is to have green, closed rings for every domain," Cuccia says. "Seeing your well-being laid out in a graphic makes it hard to ignore the red rings. The hope is that the visual offers you some self-reflection and helps inspire change."
While the rings reveal areas of well-being that could benefit from your focus, the assessment goes much deeper. For example, within the physical fitness domain, your results may suggest that you specifically need help with strength training or cardiovascular fitness, or both. Your mental health assessment may reveal that your anxiety levels are healthy, but you need to work on reducing your burnout. You will find targeted guidance that matches your specific feedback.
"The information you receive with your assessment can help you pinpoint your next steps to improve specific areas of well-being, and Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation® is here to help you along that journey," Cuccia says.
How to Use Your HealthyNurse™ Survey Results
Having information about your well-being is only helpful if you have the support and guidance you need to activate change.
"The survey results provide specific resources geared to your outcomes," Cuccia says. "You are directed to inspiring content and supportive programming to help you reach your well-being goals."
For each domain, you will find related Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation® resources, including:
You can use the provided information and resources to guide new resolutions and help with healthy habit formation. Consider sharing your assessment with colleagues or friends to identify common goals and create accountability.
"Your well-being assessment can be a great conversation starter," Cuccia says. "Together you can brainstorm ways to improve your well-being, motivate each other, and create your own weekly or monthly challenges."
Benefits of Taking the HealthyNurse™ Survey Regularly
To get the most from the HealthyNurse™ survey, you should not think of it as a one-and-done endeavor. After all, managing a patient's high blood pressure involves retesting it regularly to ensure treatment is working, right?
"It's important to keep a finger on the pulse of your well-being," Cuccia says. "Your healthy habits and how you feel are probably very different now than they were last year, in 2021, or in 2018."
Plan to evaluate your well-being by retaking the HealthyNurse™ survey every 10 to 12 months. That timeframe is short enough to keep you motivated and long enough to provide a measure of how far you've come. Then, use the updated assessment to adjust your self-care plan.
Please note, the HealthyNurse™ survey is not intended to diagnose or treat medical or other health conditions. Always contact your healthcare provider for any health or medical concerns and keep up with all recommended preventive care.
What the American Nurses Association Does With HealthyNurse™ Survey Results
The ANA has been offering surveys to assess risk and well-being since 2013. The information gathered guides ANA programs, content, and initiatives. In fact, Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation® came into being because of insight gained from a risk-assessment survey.
In addition to using the collected information for their own initiatives, ANA also shares a high-level report with its Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation® partner organizations. It includes the overall findings for nurses affiliated with their organization and how general well-being within that organization measures up to the larger group.
Rest assured, your results are never tied to your name or any personally identifiable information. But sharing the general trends from the survey enables partners to learn more about the well-being of their nursing staff and create appropriate programs.
"You remain anonymous to partner organizations, but your voice and wellness needs are recorded and passed along," Cuccia explains. "Taking the HealthyNurse™ survey is beneficial on a personal and organizational level."
Take a Step Toward Your Well-Being
In the end, it all comes back to helping nurses create healthy lifestyles by providing the resources they need on a personal and collective level. The sooner you take the HealthyNurse™ survey, the sooner you can improve your well-being. Retaking the survey annually can help you maintain that well-being and continue to build upon your progress.
Have you taken the HealthyNurse™ survey? Share your experience in our discussion below.
Not a member of Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation (HNHN) yet? Join today!
Triage can also be a useful tool if you are striving to be a healthy nurse. Assessing your mental and physical well-being consistently can help highlight which habits and areas to prioritize when focusing on self-care.
"If your goal is to improve or maintain your well-being, the first step is understanding where you are right now," says American Nurses Association (ANA) research manager Alison Cuccia, DrPH, MSPH (pictured, left). "Then, you can create goals and resolutions to help you get where you want to go."
One quick and easy way to assess your well-being is to take the HealthyNurse™ survey. In less than 10 minutes, you learn where you are thriving and where to focus your self-care efforts. Retaking the HealthyNurse™ survey annually can help keep your self-care efforts on track for your optimal well-being.
What You Can Learn From the HealthyNurse™ Survey
The HealthyNurse™ survey underwent a significant revision in 2024. It’s quicker and easier to take, and the survey now uses validated measures and scales to capture information across all 6 Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation® key domain areas of focus:
Your results are delivered in an easy-to-read ring graphic. Each domain correlates to a different ring. The ring's length and color — green, yellow, or red — helps you visualize whether that domain is an area of strength for you or whether it may need more attention.
"The goal is to have green, closed rings for every domain," Cuccia says. "Seeing your well-being laid out in a graphic makes it hard to ignore the red rings. The hope is that the visual offers you some self-reflection and helps inspire change."
While the rings reveal areas of well-being that could benefit from your focus, the assessment goes much deeper. For example, within the physical fitness domain, your results may suggest that you specifically need help with strength training or cardiovascular fitness, or both. Your mental health assessment may reveal that your anxiety levels are healthy, but you need to work on reducing your burnout. You will find targeted guidance that matches your specific feedback.
"The information you receive with your assessment can help you pinpoint your next steps to improve specific areas of well-being, and Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation® is here to help you along that journey," Cuccia says.
How to Use Your HealthyNurse™ Survey Results
Having information about your well-being is only helpful if you have the support and guidance you need to activate change.
"The survey results provide specific resources geared to your outcomes," Cuccia says. "You are directed to inspiring content and supportive programming to help you reach your well-being goals."
For each domain, you will find related Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation® resources, including:
- Appropriate tips
- Blogs on related topics
- #healthynurse spotlights that provide real-world examples of nurses overcoming or managing threats to their well-being
- Monthly challenges
You can use the provided information and resources to guide new resolutions and help with healthy habit formation. Consider sharing your assessment with colleagues or friends to identify common goals and create accountability.
"Your well-being assessment can be a great conversation starter," Cuccia says. "Together you can brainstorm ways to improve your well-being, motivate each other, and create your own weekly or monthly challenges."
Benefits of Taking the HealthyNurse™ Survey Regularly
To get the most from the HealthyNurse™ survey, you should not think of it as a one-and-done endeavor. After all, managing a patient's high blood pressure involves retesting it regularly to ensure treatment is working, right?
"It's important to keep a finger on the pulse of your well-being," Cuccia says. "Your healthy habits and how you feel are probably very different now than they were last year, in 2021, or in 2018."
Plan to evaluate your well-being by retaking the HealthyNurse™ survey every 10 to 12 months. That timeframe is short enough to keep you motivated and long enough to provide a measure of how far you've come. Then, use the updated assessment to adjust your self-care plan.
Please note, the HealthyNurse™ survey is not intended to diagnose or treat medical or other health conditions. Always contact your healthcare provider for any health or medical concerns and keep up with all recommended preventive care.
What the American Nurses Association Does With HealthyNurse™ Survey Results
The ANA has been offering surveys to assess risk and well-being since 2013. The information gathered guides ANA programs, content, and initiatives. In fact, Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation® came into being because of insight gained from a risk-assessment survey.
In addition to using the collected information for their own initiatives, ANA also shares a high-level report with its Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation® partner organizations. It includes the overall findings for nurses affiliated with their organization and how general well-being within that organization measures up to the larger group.
Rest assured, your results are never tied to your name or any personally identifiable information. But sharing the general trends from the survey enables partners to learn more about the well-being of their nursing staff and create appropriate programs.
"You remain anonymous to partner organizations, but your voice and wellness needs are recorded and passed along," Cuccia explains. "Taking the HealthyNurse™ survey is beneficial on a personal and organizational level."
Take a Step Toward Your Well-Being
In the end, it all comes back to helping nurses create healthy lifestyles by providing the resources they need on a personal and collective level. The sooner you take the HealthyNurse™ survey, the sooner you can improve your well-being. Retaking the survey annually can help you maintain that well-being and continue to build upon your progress.
Have you taken the HealthyNurse™ survey? Share your experience in our discussion below.
Not a member of Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation (HNHN) yet? Join today!
Blog Quality of Life
01/12/2026 9:40am CST
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