Improving essential care through improving care provider resilience. Putting nurses in the lead in choosing and testing evidence-based interventions

In order to provide good essential care, it is important that nurses are resilient. This means that they retain their balance in case of setbacks and deal well with burdensome situations. Examples are a high workload or the experience of not being able to provide good care.

In this study, three nursing teams take the lead: they choose and test evidence-based interventions and strategies that can strengthen their resilience, based on their own wishes, needs and priorities. Together with the researchers, the effect of the chosen interventions on their resilience and on the quality of essential care is determined. Finally, we jointly explore if and how the process itself has promoted nurse control.

Based on our lessons learned, we devise the method 'Choosing Resilience', so that other nursing teams can go through a similar process.

The project is being carried out at an ICU, a hospice and a nursing home. We also work with two nursing education programmes (HBO and MBO).