FIVE-YEAR CAREER PLAN 3
Montefiore Hospital
Self-care Intentions
Self-care is critical to personal health especially for nurses. Proper self-care provides a
nurse with the sustenance required to take care of other people as well as providing a conducive
environment for professional growth. Therefore, being cognizant of the effects of poor self-care
intentions, I plan to adopt the best skills to ensure that I am able to rationally serve the
community and my organization passionately and professionally ("Self-Care for Nurses: 5 Musts
to Avoid Burnout - Sanford Brown", 2014). Poor self-care intentions would result in emotional
detachment that is detrimental to personal life and career growth. I will adopt the following self-
care strategies to prevent secondary traumatic stress (STS).
1. Maintaining work and life balance – This self-care intentions will play a significant
role in helping me to avoid the compassion fatigue that ultimately results in the loss of the
boundary that differentiates professional practice and personal life. I plan on effectively
compartmentalizing all my issues and classifying them as either personal or professional. During
the workday, I will dedicate all my energy and concentration to serving my community by
fulfilling my professional duties (CA, 2014). Consequently, I will fully focus on my family and
other important personal issues at the times when am not working.
2. Being open to assistance – As a nurse, plan to be open with issues relating to burnout
and other forms of work stress. When I realize issues that may end up affecting the quality of my
work, I choose to discuss such issues with coworkers and supervisors to seek solution. Moreover,
I will be regularly attending counselling sessions to help me rediscover my compassion in
nursing and gain fresh insights into make the best out of my career.