Maternity Quality Improvement through Nurses’ Self-care.

Abstract

Quality Improvement (QI) focuses on the prime relationship between nursing care and patient outcomes. Nowhere has self-care been considered as important and studied within a holistic perspective. The major premise is that we cannot give what we don’t have. If nurses do not take care of themselves, how can they really care for another? This is an opportunity to consider raising the QI bar by adding the nurse’s self-care - body, mind and spirit – as an essential QI parameter. This article raises the question as to the importance of the nurse’s self-care as foundational to genuine and authentic heart felt nursing care. Keywords