Nurse leaders share strategies for addressing staff trauma

Leveraging peer support and employee assistance programs to assist distressed colleagues and celebrating victories to spotlight the positive impact of nurses’ work are among the best practices nurse leaders are using to address the mental and emotional trauma experienced by hospital staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a recent interview, AONL member Sheila Kempf, PhD, RN, chief nursing officer at Penn Medicine Princeton Health in Plainsboro, N.J., discussed these and other approaches she implemented this year to support the hospital’s nursing staff. While focusing many of her comments on nurses’ mental health challenges in 2020, she said health care leaders should view nurses' mental health and well-being as a long-term issue. (HealthLeaders Media article, 11/30/20)