Well-Being in Home Healthcare Nurses: A Quality Improvement Project.

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Healthcare Management
• Occupational Health

Background:

• Nurse burnout is a significant challenge in home healthcare, impacting retention and overall quality of care.
• Improving nurse well-being is crucial for mitigating burnout and fostering a sustainable nursing workforce.
• Existing strategies often lack practicality or cost-effectiveness in busy healthcare settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a structured well-being bundle in enhancing the well-being of home health nurses.
• To introduce low-cost, evidence-based interventions to support nurse well-being.
• To assess the feasibility and participant reception of the well-being bundle.

Main Methods:

• A 6-week pre- and post-intervention quality improvement project involving 16 home health nurses.
• Implementation of a well-being bundle comprising breathing exercises, gratitude training, and spiritual practices.
• Measurement of well-being using the validated World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5) and qualitative feedback.

Main Results:

• A statistically significant improvement in nurse well-being scores was observed post-intervention.
• Qualitative feedback indicated that nurses found the interventions simple, practical, and easy to integrate into their workday.
• Participants expressed intent to continue using the well-being strategies beyond the study period.

Conclusions:

• A structured well-being bundle incorporating simple, evidence-based strategies can effectively enhance nurse well-being in home healthcare settings.
• This approach offers a practical and accessible method for supporting nurses facing burnout, particularly in independent care environments.
• Further research with larger sample sizes is recommended to validate these findings and explore broader implementation.