WRITTEN BY WANDA CURTIS
For hundreds of years, nurses have provided health care for others — in homes, hospitals, long-term care facilities, and on battlefields. They’ve worked long shifts in understaffed facilities, with heavy workloads, and were often underpaid. They have sacrificed to meet the health care needs of others. Only recently have nurses started to realize how important it is to also care for themselves.
The results of a 2025 AMN Healthcare survey revealed that 58% of nurses surveyed felt burned out most days. Sixty-four percent said that compassion fatigue had affected their health. Fifty-five percent of respondents in a 2024 AMN survey said they were either somewhat or very likely to change jobs within a year.
No doubt about it, nursing is a very stressful profession, and that stress can affect both a nurse’s physical and mental health. It can cause them to look for another profession. It can also affect patient safety and the quality of health care they provide.
According to theresource.com, the health care industry continues to experience significant workforce turnover. In 2025, the average annual turnover rate reached 22.7% across all health care positions. Nursing experienced the highest turnover rate at 27.1%.
Wendy Mason, a faculty member at the Purdue Global School of Nursing, said nurses are exposed to pain, suffering, and trauma. She said they are often traumatized without even realizing it.
“Nurses have a responsibility to care for themselves,” Mason said. “If we aren’t caring for ourselves, we can’t care for others.”
Nursing students at Purdue Global are taught to think of themselves as bank accounts, Mason said. Students are taught that if they keep spending but fail to put something back, they will end up with a serious deficit.
“That leads to burnout,” she said.
According to Purdue Global’s online article The Importance of Self-Care for Nurses and How to Put a Plan in Place, “self-care is any deliberate activity that we engage in to improve our physical, mental, or spiritual well-being.” The article says self-care is important for all workers, but especially for nurses, because they spend their working hours caring for others.
“Self-care reduces stress, replenishes a nurse’s capacity to provide compassion and empathy, and helps improve the quality of care,” Purdue Global said.
Tips for incorporating self-care into work and personal life
In its publication Whole Health Begins With Mental Health: Let It Begin With You, the American Psychiatric Nurses Association reports that “whole health begins with mental health.” The group notes that “whole-body wellness can only be achieved with a strong foundation of mental health.” It says nurses often neglect their own health while providing care to others. The association offers the following tips to help nurses incorporate self-care into their daily lives:
- Schedule self-care. Set aside time each week to focus on yourself. Engage in activities you enjoy — art, music, or reading a good book.
- Unplug from electronic devices — TV, cellphones, and computers. Leave work at the workplace.
- Don’t be afraid to say “no.” Avoid taking on additional responsibilities that are too much to handle.
- Do say “yes” to friends and family when they invite you to do things you enjoy.
- Get moving. Take walks, lift weights, or join an exercise class.
- Get enough restful sleep each night.
- Eat a well-balanced diet.
- Practice spirituality.
- Hug someone.
- Focus on the positive and find joy where you can.
- Take breaks at work.
