A labor – intensive program included an assessment, then designing interventions specific to the care setting (Mealer, Hodapp, Conrad, Dimidjian, Rothbaum, & Moss, 2017). This particular study used mindfulness as a way to increase resilience for intensive care nurses. With the increased complexity and volume of the patient load, the team essentially considers all staff to be intensivists to a certain level.
Another study which was also labor intensive and time consumptive focused on compassion fatigue and low-cost tools to facilitate resiliency development. The retreat concept was reduced to repetitive content and exercises (Nursing Link, 2018). The Stier-Jarmer, Frisch, Oberhauser, Berberich, & Schuh, (2016) work assessed a three-week resort model for reducing stress for medical personnel. However, in this small facility, the cost and time involved would be prohibitive. There are commonalities for spas and resorts, so these concepts were incorporated into the retreat.
The retreat concept was an outgrowth of a larger project to increase staff engagement with evidence-based practice processes. Staff responded to a questionnaire that they were ‘too stressed’ to take on any new projects. As with any project the EBP team does, a literature review was conducted and sources on burnout, resiliency, and stress reduction were assessed for adaption to the needs of our unique nursing population. Initial feedback after three (3) retreats is overwhelmingly positive. The goal is to have all the nursing staff (approximately 350 registered nurse employees) participate in a retreat experience.
Preliminary feedback based on a Likert Scale and free-text post-event questionnaires will be used to enhance the experience for future attendees. Some of the initial responses were specific to improving the retreat experience including the event organization and participant involvement. The remainder of the evaluations focused on how much was gained through the experience including the usefulness of the relaxation techniques and yoga. The top responses were learning new tools, time well spent, and would recommend to other staff.
Future goals include expanding the concept to other healthcare staff and to have this an annual event. Some of the research was based in preventing medical provider burnout and oncology staff. However, direct care staff in this system represent an integrated care delivery process. Staff from all disciplines can experience burnout and distress from self-care issues. Additionally, expanding to include other disciplines might strengthen the collaborative work experience.