“Room to Reflect”: A Pilot Workplace Resiliency Intervention for Nurses

Abstract

Rising workload demands for nurses necessitate the implementation of easily accessible and innovative clinician well-being resources on health care units. This pre/post pilot study sought to measure the impact of a mobile workplace intervention, “Room to Reflect” on staff nurse and nurse manager resilience. A mobile toolbox with a sound machine, Virtual Reality headset, and associated Quick Response code audio/video offerings, and a paper Pocket Guide of mindful restoration practices were provided to 7 health care units for a 3 month period. Pre/post questionnaires assessed perceived resilience using the Connor-Davidson Resilience scale, and intervention feasibility (ease of use), accessibility (spaces used), and effectiveness (restoration). Data analysis consisted of descriptive statistics, paired and independent samples t-tests, and Wilcoxon Signed Rank tests. From the pre (n = 97) to post (n = 57) intervention period, there was a significant difference in resilience for Clinician 3 staff nurses. A mean increase in resilience was noted among nurse managers following participation in the intervention, z = −2.03, p < 0.05. The Pocket Guide was the easiest offering to use, while VR offerings were accessed the most through Quick Response code. Space and time were the most common barriers to Room to Reflect use. Staff nurses felt supported by managers to use the program, and managers perceived that the program improved nurse job satisfaction.

Promoting Well-being: A Scoping Review of Strategies Implemented During the COVID-19 Pandemic to Enhance the Well-being of the Nursing Workforce

“… Invest in a wellbeing manager. Muir et al., ( Muir et al., 2022 ) USA Assess resilience, program feasibility, accessibility, and effectiveness among RNs after using a mobile toolbox and pocket guide as on the job well-being resources. 57 RNs across 7 units within inpatient, outpatient pre-operative and post-operative settings in an academic medical centre Quantitative - Pre/post-test design.…”

“…Included studies were from USA (n=9), Italy (n=2), UK (n=2), Australia (n=2), Taiwan (n=2), Jordan (n=1), Spain (n=1), Iran (n=1), and China (n=1). 17 of the included studies were conducted in acute hospital settings or services: with 6 focusing on broad health districts ( Blake et al., 2020 , 2021 ; Holton et al., 2022 ; Olcoń et al., 2022 ; Sawyer et al., 2022 ; Sawyer et al., 2022 ), 5 focusing on single or multiple hospital sites ( Castillo-Sánchez et al., 2022 , Carter and Turner, 2021 , Hsieh et al., 2022 , Muir et al., 2022 , Zaghini et al., 2021 )) and 6 focusing on individual units or wards, including a range of specialty areas such as Intensive Care Units ( Drexler et al., 2023 , Green et al., 2022 ), Emergency ( Haugland et al., 2023 , Yang et al., 2022 ), Surgical ( King et al., 2022 ), and COVID-19 care wards ( Nourian et al., 2021 ). One study conducted by Chen et al.…”

“…The ‘Room to Reflect’ mobile toolbox was an intervention designed to enhance the resiliency and well-being of nurses. The toolbox comprised a range of strategies including a sound machine, a VR headset, and a pocket guide of restorative mindful practices ( Muir et al., 2022 ). The majority of participants felt supported, by leadership on their clinical units, to use the toolbox and pocket guide although time and space may still limit accessibility to well-being initiatives at a ward level.…”

“…Numerous studies mentioned the challenges associated with nurses having time to access some interventions, particularly physical spaces such as serenity or well-being rooms (Haughland et al., 2023; ( Holton et al., 2022 , Muir et al., 2022 )). Even when initiatives were designed to be mobile and used at the bedside, time and space were still identified as a barrier to utilization by ward-based nurses ( Muir et al., 2022 ). Staffing levels and patient acuity made it challenging for well-being strategies to be implemented effectively and impacted on staff engagement with the strategies ( King et al., 2022 ).…”

“…There also needs to be further research into how we can effectively measure the well-being of our nursing workforce. The studies included in this scoping review used a range of quantitative measures to determine the effectiveness of their interventions including a range of self-reported questionnaires and scales to measure: perceived stress ( Alkhawaldeh, 2023 , Haugland et al., 2023 , Hsieh et al., 2022 , Sawyer et al., 2022 ); coping strategies ( Alkhawaldeh, 2023 , Hsieh et al., 2022 ) work life balance ( Carter and Turner, 2021 ); resilience ( Haugland et al., 2023 , Muir et al., 2022 , Sawyer et al., 2022 ), burnout (Ungar, 2022) and sleep quality ( Nourian et al., 2021 ). Whilst this makes comparison between studies difficult, it also highlights a lack of consensus as to what constitutes well-being, and how poor well-being may manifest within the workforce.…”