NURS 478 Self Care Journal

Your Name: Andrew Chittaphong Your Buddy: Ella Nanci

Select any evidence-based intervention/recommendation to follow (do this over 8 weeks):

 Sleep at least 7 hours per night before and after a work or school day
 Practice mindfulness meditation for at least 10 minutes everyday
 Complete at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise per week, such as biking under 9
mph, dancing, jogging, or playing tennis; or complete 60 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise per week,
such as running, kickboxing, or jumping rope.
 Participate in two professionally led yoga classes for one hour or longer per week
 Spend up to 2 hrs in Nature or longer per week
 Other (Must get your Clinical Faculty approval first, and activity should be up to 2 hrs or longer
per week)

Complete Weekly journal entries:

Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time):
1
The intervention implemented for week one was limiting the amount of time spent on my phone or
watching television while lying in bed to just 1-hour max prior to bedtime. For this intervention, I
implemented this every night excluding Monday night.
Comments on Activity:

One of my biggest problems has been browsing my phone for hours while I lay in bed prior to actually
going to sleep. By limiting the time I spend browsing my phone, I am able to go to bed at a much earlier
time, increasing the quality and quantity of my sleep. Although I limited myself to just 1-hour of media
use while lying in bed, I did not account for the amount of time it would take me to actually fall asleep.
Therefore, I only averaged around 6 and a half hours of sleep before and after a work or school day.
Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time):
2
The intervention implemented for week two was limiting the amount of time spent on my phone or
watching television prior to bed to only 30 minutes, instead of the 1 hour max I had originally
implemented. For this intervention, I continued to implement it every night excluding Monday night.
Comments on Activity:

Due to me not taking into account how long it would take me to fall asleep during week one, I decided
to limit my media use while lying in bed to only 30 minutes prior to bed time. Limiting myself to just 30
minutes of screen time on my phone allowed me to fall asleep at a decent time and achieve the full 7
hours of sleep on nights before and after a school or clinical day.

Buddy Check-In Comments: (Note Key Comments from Conversation)

Ella suggested that I do not keep my phone charger by my bed. The reason being is so when I go to
charge my phone prior to going to bed, I am physically separated from it and cannot use it while lying
down. She also noted how the intervention is a good one to try to implement because many people have
problems with keeping their tv on while sleeping or using their phones too much prior to bed.

M O’C Fall 2018

 Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time):
3
The intervention implemented for week three was to limit the amount of time spent on my phone or
watching television while lying in bed to just 30 minutes prior to bed time. I attempted to implement
this intervention on Tuesday night and Wednesday night, as I had the other days off from clinical.
Comments on Activity:

I was able to implement the intervention on Tuesday night, Wednesday night, and Sunday night and was
able to receive my full 7 hours of sleep on those nights. On the other nights of the week, I was unable to
implement the intervention because I did not have clinical or school on any of those days, therefore I
stayed up late watching movies and relaxing. Although I stayed up late and did not limit myself from
watching movies and using my phone prior to bed on my off days, I was still able to receive my full 7
hours of sleep due to me sleeping in later than usual. However, on Sunday night, it took me longer than
usual to fall asleep and resulted in me only getting 6 and a half hours of sleep prior going to my first
community health clinical.
Buddy Check-In Comments: (Note Key Comments from Conversation)

Ella told me to keep up the good work with implementing the intervention and that she is happy she
doesn’t have to hear me complain about being tired everyday now. She also noted that she might start
implementing this intervention for herself as it seems to be working for me.

Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time):

4
The intervention implemented for week four was to limit the amount of time spent on my phone or
watching television while lying in bed to just 30 minutes prior to bed time. I attempted to implement
this intervention on Monday night, Tuesday night, and Wednesday night.

Comments on Activity:

This week was the beginning of my community health rotation. I woke up extremely tired on Monday
and forced myself to go to bed extra early that night, also forcing myself to not use any source of media
at all in order to prevent myself from losing track of time and going to bed too late. I was able to receive
my full 7 hours of sleep for the remainder of the week. I forgot how difficult it was to go to clinicals
while tired and Monday was a great wake up call.

Buddy Check-In Comments: (Note Key Comments from Conversation)

I told Ella that it was extremely difficult to wake up Monday morning due to me losing track of time by
being on my phone before bed. She suggested that I set a timer on my phone for only 30 minutes and
forcing myself to set my phone down and go to bed immediately once that alarm goes off.

Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time):

5
The intervention implemented for week five was to limit the amount of time spent on my phone or
watching television while lying in bed to just 15 minutes prior to bedtime. I decided to decrease my
maximum allowance for media use in attempt to decrease the amount of time it took me to fall asleep. I
attempted to implement this intervention on Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, and
Sunday night.
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 Comments on Activity:

Reducing the amount of time I allowed myself to use my phone prior to bedtime has drastically
decreased my sleep latency and allowed me to fall asleep faster than I could have imagined. I was
successful with implanting this intervention every day of the week due to the success I had. I was able
to receive upwards of 8 hours of sleep each night for week 5.

Buddy Check-In Comments: (Note Key Comments from Conversation)

I told Ella that this was the first time during my nursing school career where I have received 8 hours of
sleep for an entire week. She further reiterated that choosing to limit my phone use to only 15 minutes
prior to bedtime has been the most effective out of all the previous time limits I originally attempted to
implement.

Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time):

6
The intervention implemented for week six was to continue to limit the amount of time spent on my
phone or watching television while lying in bed to just 15 minutes prior to bedtime. I decided to
maintain the 15-minute limit I had previously allowed myself. I attempted to implement this
intervention on Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, and Sunday night.

Comments on Activity:

Although I was able to limit myself from using any sort of media while lying in bed prior to bedtime, I
was only successful in getting 7 hours of sleep 4 out of 7 nights this week. The nights that I was unable
to get the full 7 hours of sleep were due to me working on school assignments and studying for exams.
Buddy Check-In Comments: (Note Key Comments from Conversation)

I told Ella that I was unable to get the full 7 hours of sleep due to school assignments and studying for
exams and she made me feel better that some things are just out of my control. She had asked me if I
had problems this week with time management and I reflected that I did take longer than usual to cook
dinner those nights, which may have had an overall effect on my sleep duration regardless of me
limiting my media use prior to bed.

Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time):

7
The intervention implemented for week seven was to continue to limit the amount of time spent on my
phone or watching television while lying in bed to just 15 minutes prior to bedtime. I decided that
limiting my phone use to just 15 minutes prior to bedtime has worked the best up until now. I
implemented the intervention on Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, and Thursday night.

Comments on Activity:
I was able to achieve 7 hours of sleep on the nights I implemented the intervention and was successful
with not using any source of media longer than 15 minutes on those nights. However, I was unable to
implement this intervention the rest of the week because I was out of town in Las Vegas for the
weekend. I was not able to get a full 7 hours of sleep from Friday through Sunday, as a result of my
mini vacation.

Buddy Check-In Comments: (Note Key Comments from Conversation)

M O’C Fall 2018
 I mentioned to Ella that I was unable to implement the intervention during the weekend due to me being
in Las Vegas and she said that although I was unable to implement the intervention on those days, I was
still able to follow through with the intervention on nights before school or clinical days and that was
sufficient enough. She also stated, “Going on mini vacations is a form of self-care in itself so technically
you did some self-care.”

Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time):

8
As a result of me being in Las Vegas the previous weekend, I wanted to make up for the days I was
unable to implement the intervention. I attempted to implement the intervention for the entirety of the
week. I attempted to limit my cell phone use to only 15 minutes each night while lying in bed, prior to
bedtime.

Comments on Activity:
I was able to limit my media use for 5 out of the 7 days of week 8 and receive my full 7 hours of sleep.
On the 2 days that I was not able to receive my full 7 hours of sleep, I had lost track of time watching
Disney Plus, as it recently became released and I was too excited not to watch shows from my
childhood.

Complete Survey Below

(Once Completed submit entire document to D2L Assignment Drop box by Due date and add to Your
Portfolio.)

Reflection on Panopto presentation and 8-week intervention:

What did these activities teach you?

These activities taught me that I tend to spend too much time watching television or using my cell
phone prior to bed time. I learned that it because very easy to lose track of time, resulting in me getting
less sleep for the night. Most importantly, I learned that by limiting my media use, I have found it
noticeably easier to fall asleep and I feel more refreshed when I wake up in the morning. I learned that a
lot of my negative emotions throughout the day could be contributed to me being tired, therefore it is
important for me to take care of myself.

Have you noticed any changes in your life since you began this intervention?

I have noticed that my mood has drastically improved on a day to day basis. I find myself complaining
about little things less than I usual do and overall, I am just a happier person. I also noticed that I am far
more productive when I am not tired and this experience really convinced me to implement this
intervention for the remainder of my career as a nurse.

Will you do anything differently now? Please explain.

No. I adjusted my intervention until I achieved the results that I wanted and stuck with it whenever I
could. I believe I gained a lot from this experience and learned a lot about myself so I do not think I
would change the way I did things. Lack of sleep has always been an issue for me throughout nursing
school and I wish I had tried to implement these self-care activities earlier.
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 Comments/suggestions:

Please rate how strongly you agree or disagree with these statements:
Following an evidence-based recommendation to reduce burnout was valuable to me.

Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

Agree Disagree
5 4 3 2 1

This 8-week intervention will help me implement preventative strategies for burnout in my career.

Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

Agree Disagree
5 4 3 2 1

This Panopto presentation titled: “Nurse Burnout: What this is and how you can minimize it in your careers”
effectively taught me how I can reduce and address nurse burnout in my career.

Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

Agree Disagree
5 4 3 2 1

Completing the Big Five Personality Test was helpful for exploring my risk of nurse burnout.

Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

Agree Disagree
1 2 3 4 5

M O’C Fall 2018