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Self-Care

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Enhancing Nurses’ and Midwives’ Competence in Providing Spiritual Care

Abstract

This chapter will help you recognise more about who you are, what your talents are and what self-care needs you may have over time. We highlight several factors that affect us in healthcare practice and nursing and midwifery, such as the physical, mental and emotional dimensions of care. It is necessary to examine how we are shaped by the work we do and the consequences. We demonstrate that nurses and midwives are at risk of stress-related conditions [1]. These may include specific symptoms, burnout, emotional fatigue and physical and mental health problems. We also look at how people can manage the everyday challenges of working in healthcare and what resources they draw on to help maintain equilibrium. Furthermore, we examine how to not only be resilient but also how to maintain your personal excitement and passion. Self-care is about keeping yourself well; it is not a selfish series of activities. This chapter may be for you a ‘cue to action’, a way of recognising that we are all human and that any one of us can suffer from stress-related symptoms. It is essential if we want to keep fresh and available to offer nursing and midwifery care. The bottom line is: If we do not care for ourselves, we are not going to be in the best position to care for others. In this chapter, we deliberately step back and ask you the question ‘what can, and do you do, in order to keep yourself in the best possible shape for the work you do’?

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Thanks to Eamonn Dennis MD of The Conflict Training Company in the UK for his contribution on managing emotions in challenging situations.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, UK

    Anthony Schwartz

  2. Three Counties School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Worcester, Worcester, UK

    Kath Baume

  3. Mental Health, School of Health and Social Care, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, UK

    Austyn Snowden

  4. SCPHN-OH Queen’s Nurse, London, UK

    Jyoti Patel

  5. University of South Wales, Newport, Wales, UK

    Nicky Genders

  6. New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling, London, UK

    Gulnar Ali

Authors
  1. Anthony Schwartz
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  2. Kath Baume
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  3. Austyn Snowden
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  4. Jyoti Patel
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  5. Nicky Genders
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  6. Gulnar Ali
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anthony Schwartz .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of NursingSchool of Health and Social CareStaffordshire University, University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, Stoke-on-TrentStaffordshire, England, UK

    Wilfred McSherry

  2. Department of NursingSchool of Health and Social Care, Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-TrentStaffordshire, England, UK

    Adam Boughey

  3. Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Malta, Msida, Malta

    Josephine Attard

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Schwartz, A., Baume, K., Snowden, A., Patel, J., Genders, N., Ali, G. (2021). Self-Care. In: McSherry, W., Boughey, A., Attard, J. (eds) Enhancing Nurses’ and Midwives’ Competence in Providing Spiritual Care . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65888-5_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65888-5_4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-65887-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-65888-5

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