Health Promotion in Nursing

[TABrown]

It is my first year of nursing school but one thing I have been disappointed about in many hospital settings is the food they serve in their very own cafeterias. I think nurses should lead as role models by living healthy lives (i.e. not smoking, eating a balanced diet, exercising), but it is hard to do this when the hospitals where we work are not offering many healthy options. One way to promote health is to live it. What can be done to better promote health in the hospital setting and in our own lives?

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Our hospital provides both healthy and unhealthy food. People line up for burgers, fries and fried chicken. It's supply and demand. But we're lucky, people demanded healthy food and we got it. It just doesn't sell well. They aren't about to do away with the burgers and fries as long as it's making money.

Our hospital also has a health and wellness program for it's employees. We can get nicotine patches and help for smoking for free. We have a gym we can get a discount at, we can make appointments with the dietcian and get an individualize diet plan. For a couple of years we had teams, that competed with each other over weight loss and exercise. That went bust after a couple of years.

To be honest, I think their health promotion among it's staff has been a failure. Probably due to lack of interest.

But it all comes down to individual desire and accountability. Health care workers are like everyone else. We struggle with these issues, we get committed and then stop.

[live4today, RN]

.........................supply and demand..................lack of interest..........................it all comes down to individual desire and accountability. Health care workers are like everyone else. We struggle with these issues, we get committed and then stop.

Those are pretty much my thoughts, too, Tweety.