Rising rates of compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout among Providence Benedictine nurses must be addressed in a cohesive, evidence-based, and intentional manner. We will use the Five Ways to Well-being model to enrich culture, enhance mental and physical health, and forge meaningful connections to improve the lives of our nurses and, by extension, positively impact patient well-being.

A 2022 survey of nursing staff at Providence Benedictine revealed several areas of concern, including:

• Burnout: Physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion caused by understaffing and chronic workplace stress
• Compassion fatigue: Physical, mental, and emotional weariness results from caring for those in physical pain and emotional distress, exacerbated by the isolation and fear resulting from COVID-19.

Like many healthcare organizations, we are struggling to hire and maintain nursing staff in the face of existential and systemic challenges. We understand the difficulties and the strain this puts on our current staff. While we cannot immediately improve the burden of caseload and staffing shortages, we acknowledge that we can initiate a number of individual-level improvements to augment a healthy culture to support the well-being of our nurses and ensure their capacity and ability to provide quality care for our residents and patients.