The American Nurses Foundation has partnered with the United Health Foundation to launch the Nurse Well-Being: Building Peer and Leadership Support program, which is designed to transform organizational culture surrounding mental health.
The program was developed through a three-year, $3.1 million grant from United Health Foundation, according to an Oct. 10 news release from the American Nurses Foundation. Fifty nurses have delivered the program to more than 1,000 nurses across four pilot sites to date.
The pilot program was implemented at Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Mobile, Ala.-based USA Health System University Hospital, Clearwater, Fla.-based BayCare Health System and Indianapolis-based Indiana University Health.
"The program provides nurses with a shared language to communicate their stress level using a color-coded system," the release said. "It also guides nurse leaders in having tough conversations about mental health, identifies strategies for building healthy nursing teams and emphasizes the value of caring for oneself first."
According to early survey results, 88% of nurses found the program model easy to use, and nurses enrolled in the program for six months reported a 28% decrease in burnout.
Among the four pilot sites, one is extending the program to its entire hospital and one plans to expand the program to its entire health system, the release said.
The American Nurses Foundation is offering the Nurse Well-Being: Building Peer and Leadership Support curriculum to nurses for free.
The American Nurses Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the American Nurses Association. The United Health Foundation is the philanthropic foundation of UnitedHealth Group.