Letter to the Editor: Athleticism as Antidote William Rosa PII: DOI: Reference:
S0883-9417(14)00038-7 doi: 10.1016/j.apnu.2014.03.003 YAPNU 50619
To appear in:
Archives of Psychiatric Nursing
Received date: Accepted date:
15 February 2014 8 March 2014
Please cite this article as: Rosa, W., Letter to the Editor: Athleticism as Antidote, Archives of Psychiatric Nursing (2014), doi: 10.1016/j.apnu.2014.03.003
This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Running head: ATHLETICISM AS ANTIDOTE
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Letter to the Editor: Athleticism as Antidote
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William Rosa, MSN, RN, CCRN-CMC, LMT, Caritas Coach
Letter to the Editor: Athleticism as Antidote
I was deeply inspired to contribute a working archetypal approach of “Nurse as Athlete” to the issues discussed by Owen and Wenzar’s (2014) article, “Compassion Fatigue in Military Healthcare Teams.” The challenges in mitigating Compassion Fatigue, as addressed in the aforementioned, create opportunity for deep healing through practices of persistence, determination, and new insights. Offered herein is a vision integrating theory and practice, allowing the nursing community to emphasize the educational necessities of self-care and selfreverence, allowing nurses’ and nursing’s health to become an inter-professional responsibility of priority.
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ATHLETICISM AS ANTIDOTE The word “athlete” suggests a person of sound body, mind, emotion, and spirit, capable of sustainable and highly exceptional performance. The function and stamina of said athlete is
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immediately determined by the health or ailment of any and all of these capacities. The nurse at
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the bedside has the power to become an athlete in the truest sense of the word, but only as we allow core concepts of Human Caring Science, as discussed by Watson (2008/2012), to become
SC
a starting point and beginning ethic to heal the “physical, emotional, and spiritual depletion
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associated with caring for patients in significant emotional pain and physical distress” (Lombardo & Eyre, 2011, p. 2).
MA
Some suggest that in order for workers to mature into athletes in practice environments, they must develop daily rituals that attend to the expansion and development of four main
ED
capacities: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual (Loehr & Schwartz, 2001). This concept
PT
has been applied to nursing-specific education models that build reflective practice habits through intensive self-reflection (Walton & Alvarez, 2010). With this training in hand, nurses
CE
must feel confident in applying these rituals and skills to all life arenas, as identified by Boyle
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(2011), which include: work/life balance, education, and work-setting programs. With increased self-awareness and resilience based on daily ritual practice, selfreflection, and an attending to all of life, nurses may utilize concepts found in Watson’s Caritas Processes (Table 1) as a way of building on this nursing-specific framework. Using a lens specific to the profession addresses the challenges of nurses in practice and gives them opportunities to celebrate a sense of community based on empathic understanding and reciprocal support. The idea here is that it is nursing’s responsibility to help itself remain viable and intact with its cultural values and integrity, as the evolving complexities of health care today have not and will not aid in that endeavor. Specifically relevant to Compassion Fatigue is Watson’s
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ATHLETICISM AS ANTIDOTE (2012) assumption that in order to be able to provide “authentic caring” for others, nurses must first be able to engage in compassionate self-care practices for themselves (p. 43).
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Figure 1 illustrates how the Nurse as Athlete may continually utilize and recycle current
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practice with Ritual-Theory-Life Arenas amply and creatively for continuous healing and development. Dovetailing Watson’s Theory of Human Caring with primary prevention strategies
SC
identified by relevant literature, one hopes to raise the bar of consciousness for nurses and aid
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them in identifying self-care behavioral gaps throughout the spectrum of their practice, engage in rituals that increase self-reverence, and compassionately expand the physical, emotional,
MA
spiritual, and mental dimensions of the nurse as both bedside practitioner and human being. By viewing nurse as both learner and teacher, and as both individual and community, nurses may
ED
reclaim responsibility for their own personal/global well-being and make more tangible the
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likelihood of becoming true athletes. Take good care and be well, my dear colleagues.
Author Note
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William (Billy) Rosa, MSN, RN, CCRN-CMC, LMT, Caritas Coach, Critical Care Nurse Educator, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, NY. Founder, Holding Heartspace, http://holdingheartspace.org. Correspondence concerning this letter should be e-mailed to [email protected].
References Boyle, D.A. (2011). Countering compassion fatigue: a requisite nursing agenda. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 16(1), 2. Loehr, J. & Schwartz, T. (2001). The making of a corporate athlete. Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, RO101H, 120-128. Lombardo, B. & Eyre, C. (2011). Compassion fatigue: A nurse’s primer. Online Journal of
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ATHLETICISM AS ANTIDOTE Issues in Nursing, 16(1), 3. Owen, R.P. & Wanzer, L. (2014). Compassion fatigue in military healthcare teams. Archives of
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Psychiatric Nursing, 28, 2-9.
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Walton, A.M.L., & Alvarez, M. (2010). Imagine: Compassion fatigue training for nurses. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 14(4), 399-400.
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Watson, J. (2008). Nursing: the philosophy and science of caring (Rev. ed.). Boulder, CO:
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University Press of Colorado.
Watson, J. (2012) Human caring science: A theory of nursing. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett
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Learning.
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ATHLETICISM AS ANTIDOTE Figure 1.
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Nurse as Athlete
Current Practice
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Theory
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Life Arena
Rituals
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ATHLETICISM AS ANTIDOTE Table 1.
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Watson’s Caritas Processes (Watson Caring Science Institute, 2011) 1. Embrace altruistic values and practice loving kindness with self and others. 2. Instill faith and hope and honor others. 3. Be sensitive to self and others by nurturing individual beliefs and practices. 4. Develop helping – trusting- caring relationships. 5. Promote and accept positive and negative feelings as you authentically listen to another’s story. 6. Use creative scientific problem-solving methods for caring decision making. 7. Share teaching and learning that addresses the individual needs and comprehension styles. 8. Create a healing environment for the physical and spiritual self which respects human dignity. 9. Assist with basic physical, emotional, and spiritual human needs. 10. Open to mystery and allow miracles to enter.
S0883-9417(14)00038-7 doi: 10.1016/j.apnu.2014.03.003 YAPNU 50619
To appear in:
Archives of Psychiatric Nursing
Received date: Accepted date:
15 February 2014 8 March 2014
Please cite this article as: Rosa, W., Letter to the Editor: Athleticism as Antidote, Archives of Psychiatric Nursing (2014), doi: 10.1016/j.apnu.2014.03.003
This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Running head: ATHLETICISM AS ANTIDOTE
1
Letter to the Editor: Athleticism as Antidote
AC
CE
PT
ED
MA
NU
SC
RI P
T
William Rosa, MSN, RN, CCRN-CMC, LMT, Caritas Coach
Letter to the Editor: Athleticism as Antidote
I was deeply inspired to contribute a working archetypal approach of “Nurse as Athlete” to the issues discussed by Owen and Wenzar’s (2014) article, “Compassion Fatigue in Military Healthcare Teams.” The challenges in mitigating Compassion Fatigue, as addressed in the aforementioned, create opportunity for deep healing through practices of persistence, determination, and new insights. Offered herein is a vision integrating theory and practice, allowing the nursing community to emphasize the educational necessities of self-care and selfreverence, allowing nurses’ and nursing’s health to become an inter-professional responsibility of priority.
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 2
ATHLETICISM AS ANTIDOTE The word “athlete” suggests a person of sound body, mind, emotion, and spirit, capable of sustainable and highly exceptional performance. The function and stamina of said athlete is
T
immediately determined by the health or ailment of any and all of these capacities. The nurse at
RI P
the bedside has the power to become an athlete in the truest sense of the word, but only as we allow core concepts of Human Caring Science, as discussed by Watson (2008/2012), to become
SC
a starting point and beginning ethic to heal the “physical, emotional, and spiritual depletion
NU
associated with caring for patients in significant emotional pain and physical distress” (Lombardo & Eyre, 2011, p. 2).
MA
Some suggest that in order for workers to mature into athletes in practice environments, they must develop daily rituals that attend to the expansion and development of four main
ED
capacities: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual (Loehr & Schwartz, 2001). This concept
PT
has been applied to nursing-specific education models that build reflective practice habits through intensive self-reflection (Walton & Alvarez, 2010). With this training in hand, nurses
CE
must feel confident in applying these rituals and skills to all life arenas, as identified by Boyle
AC
(2011), which include: work/life balance, education, and work-setting programs. With increased self-awareness and resilience based on daily ritual practice, selfreflection, and an attending to all of life, nurses may utilize concepts found in Watson’s Caritas Processes (Table 1) as a way of building on this nursing-specific framework. Using a lens specific to the profession addresses the challenges of nurses in practice and gives them opportunities to celebrate a sense of community based on empathic understanding and reciprocal support. The idea here is that it is nursing’s responsibility to help itself remain viable and intact with its cultural values and integrity, as the evolving complexities of health care today have not and will not aid in that endeavor. Specifically relevant to Compassion Fatigue is Watson’s
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 3
ATHLETICISM AS ANTIDOTE (2012) assumption that in order to be able to provide “authentic caring” for others, nurses must first be able to engage in compassionate self-care practices for themselves (p. 43).
T
Figure 1 illustrates how the Nurse as Athlete may continually utilize and recycle current
RI P
practice with Ritual-Theory-Life Arenas amply and creatively for continuous healing and development. Dovetailing Watson’s Theory of Human Caring with primary prevention strategies
SC
identified by relevant literature, one hopes to raise the bar of consciousness for nurses and aid
NU
them in identifying self-care behavioral gaps throughout the spectrum of their practice, engage in rituals that increase self-reverence, and compassionately expand the physical, emotional,
MA
spiritual, and mental dimensions of the nurse as both bedside practitioner and human being. By viewing nurse as both learner and teacher, and as both individual and community, nurses may
ED
reclaim responsibility for their own personal/global well-being and make more tangible the
CE
PT
likelihood of becoming true athletes. Take good care and be well, my dear colleagues.
Author Note
AC
William (Billy) Rosa, MSN, RN, CCRN-CMC, LMT, Caritas Coach, Critical Care Nurse Educator, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, NY. Founder, Holding Heartspace, http://holdingheartspace.org. Correspondence concerning this letter should be e-mailed to [email protected].
References Boyle, D.A. (2011). Countering compassion fatigue: a requisite nursing agenda. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 16(1), 2. Loehr, J. & Schwartz, T. (2001). The making of a corporate athlete. Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, RO101H, 120-128. Lombardo, B. & Eyre, C. (2011). Compassion fatigue: A nurse’s primer. Online Journal of
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 4
ATHLETICISM AS ANTIDOTE Issues in Nursing, 16(1), 3. Owen, R.P. & Wanzer, L. (2014). Compassion fatigue in military healthcare teams. Archives of
T
Psychiatric Nursing, 28, 2-9.
RI P
Walton, A.M.L., & Alvarez, M. (2010). Imagine: Compassion fatigue training for nurses. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 14(4), 399-400.
SC
Watson, J. (2008). Nursing: the philosophy and science of caring (Rev. ed.). Boulder, CO:
NU
University Press of Colorado.
Watson, J. (2012) Human caring science: A theory of nursing. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett
AC
CE
PT
ED
MA
Learning.
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 5
ATHLETICISM AS ANTIDOTE Figure 1.
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T
Nurse as Athlete
Current Practice
AC
CE
PT
ED
Theory
MA
NU
SC
Life Arena
Rituals
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 6
ATHLETICISM AS ANTIDOTE Table 1.
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CE
PT
ED
MA
NU
SC
RI P
T
Watson’s Caritas Processes (Watson Caring Science Institute, 2011) 1. Embrace altruistic values and practice loving kindness with self and others. 2. Instill faith and hope and honor others. 3. Be sensitive to self and others by nurturing individual beliefs and practices. 4. Develop helping – trusting- caring relationships. 5. Promote and accept positive and negative feelings as you authentically listen to another’s story. 6. Use creative scientific problem-solving methods for caring decision making. 7. Share teaching and learning that addresses the individual needs and comprehension styles. 8. Create a healing environment for the physical and spiritual self which respects human dignity. 9. Assist with basic physical, emotional, and spiritual human needs. 10. Open to mystery and allow miracles to enter.
