For Christmas I was given a brilliant little book of facts (2,024 QI Facts To Stop You In Your Tracks) and for most of Christmas Day I stunned (ok – bored) my family with snippets of information and all was going well until I came across this on page 478:
Wow!
Just wow!
Of course this is just one fact in one book, so being the diligent nurse that I am I went looking for the evidence … and here it is > 1 in 4 nurses in England are overweight and Obesity prevalence among healthcare professionals in England
It’s a pretty shocking figure for a nurse to read. And, sadly, I have to count myself in that number as I too am overweight, I have spent most of last year and this trying to put that right and have managed to move from obese to overweight … but nevertheless I remain overweight. So why is that? Here on my reflections on my own weight:
- It’s really hard to eat right when working shifts, mealtimes are never at the right time and sometimes all you can manage is a quick pit stop
- Calories don’t count on nightshifts (unfortunately they do)
- Nursing is exhausting at times and the thought of exercise after a 12 hour shift is just .. well … more exhausting
- I exercise enough at work answering all those call bells (unfortunately I do not)
- Cooking a healthy meal after a busy shift is really hard when all you want to do is grab a take-a-way on the way home
- I see the effects of obesity every day … but that won’t happen to me (unfortunately it could and probably will unlessI can loose the weight)
Perhaps my most revelational (not sure of that’s a real word) reflection though is that all of these are just excuses!! Yes it’s hard, there is no easy solution to being obese but loosing weight is doable for us as nurses.
Being fit to practice is so important that the NMC put it into our Code:
We are bound by our code to maintain a level of health that will not put the people we care for at risk. As a nurse I need to be physically fit so that I can run to emergencies, keep going at the end of my 12 our shift, kneel down to dress Mrs Jones leg ulcers, attend to people who have fallen on the floor, be a role model to the people I care for and much much more. Which begs the question of how many of us realise that section 20.9 is there ?? Or do we know it’s there and are we just quietly ignoring it?? I am sure that smarter people than I will be able to ascertain the answer to this…. but I am more concerned with how we can start to make nurses more aware of section 20.9 and how we can support one another and reduce the 1 in 4 nurses being overweight statistic.
Over the past two years I have I gone from being obese to now overweight … I still have a little way to go but essentially I no longer make excuses. I make time to run 3 times a week and try to walk everyday, I eat well and count my calories – eating right when on shifts is still tough but I am getting there. And I can see the benefits – when I run to an emergency I have enough breath to talk when I get there, when I kneel down to do Mrs Jones dressings I can get up again easily, and when I reach the end of a long day I have energy to spare.
As 2018 draws to a close and 2019 starts I am left thinking about how nursing can help itself and be fit to practice in the year to come. What can we do to raise awareness of section 20.9? What can we all do to support and encourage each other? What can we do to reduce the collective weight of nursing? What can we do to help nurses to be healthy and happy? What can we do to ensure nurses are fit enough to practice?
So it’s over to you …… 2019 is literally around the corner …. what we can do?
Ran a skills session on this for our third year BSc student nurses only 3 weeks ago looking at physical and emotional self got students to self assess weight health etc looked at well being and activity
Also helped to facilitate a day on FTP with 3rd year students. – they compared their fitness prior to starting nursing to now as they approach qualification. We did flexibility testing, body balance and measurements of hips waist and used a body shape assessment tool. They were able to identify areas for improvement. We discussed strategies such as walking, pay as you go gym classes, Pilates and yoga strength training. Nurses need to be physically fit for practice……
From what we know about human factors, whether you are obese or not, 12 hour shifts lead to fatigue, exhaustion and anxiety.
Many clininicians face emotionally and technically difficult contexts day in, day out without appropriate psychological support (effective line management) again leading to stress.
If we want clinicians to be healthier the solution does not lie in getting them to run more ( though it might help) but in designing the work around what people need for a sustainable clinical role characterised by pride and joy rather than deep fatigue and anxiety.