A survey was developed to assess the personal and professional health, safety, and wellness risks of American nurses as part of an initiative to improve national health by first improving the health of its nurses. First year results will be presented on the data of 9,117 nurses and nursing students.
However, the health of American nurses is frequently worse than that of the general population, particularly in major indicators such as nutrition, sleep, stress, and physical activity (ANA, 2015; ANA & ICG, 2016; BLS, 2017; Carpenter & Dawson, 2015; Carpenter & Dawson, 2018; Jordan et al, 2016; Roberts et al, 2014).
Our organization seeks to improve nurse health, safety, and wellness through a unique social initiative utilizing the grand challenge methodology. Grand challenges are courageous goals that benefit society by tackling complex issues through collaboration and cooperative leadership (Economos et al, 2001). On May 1, 2017, our organization launched this grand challenge (to be referred to as the “initiative”) to transform the health of the United States of America by first improving the health of its 4 million registered nurses.
Our initiative:
- Broadly connects and engages individual nurses, nursing students, health care workers and organizations to take action within five domains: physical activity, sleep, nutrition, quality of life, and safety; and
- Provides a web platform to inspire action, cultivate friendly competition, provide content and resources, gather data, and connect participants, employers, and organizations.
Participants that join the initiative are asked to create a profile page, make a commitment, join 5-10 day challenges bimonthly, engage in discussion boards, access resources and blogs and take a health risk appraisal (HRA). The HRA is a comprehensive electronic survey focusing on nurse health, safety, and wellness risks, both personally and professionally. Question categories include demographics, occupational health, employee wellness, personal wellness, individual safety, and overall health. The HRA was developed utilizing questions easily comparable with existing national data. It is IRB-approved and takes approximately 15 minutes to complete. Participants of the HRA receive their confidential results immediately in an interactive heat graph format. Participants can also link to the national average, ideal standard, and additional resources for most questions. The survey can be retaken each year to track results longitudinally. Additionally, the HRA provides real time data on the health, safety, and wellness risks of nurses and nursing students. This provides aggregate, de-identified data for our organization to determine where programs and resources are needed for the nursing profession. Partner organizations of the initiative, at the Champion and Collaborator levels, also receive aggregate, de-identified data reports specifically for them, when twenty-five or more of those that affiliate with their organization take the HRA.
This presentation will focus on the first year findings and results of this ongoing HRA, specifically concentrating on the initiative’s five domains. Specific data will demonstrate areas and practices that schools of nursing, nursing organizations, employers of nurses, healthcare facilities, and other interested parties should focus on to improve nurse health, safety, and wellness.