Wellness Breaks Introduced at the 2023 Nursing Informatics Forum

To address workforce burnout in real time, a wellness breaks pilot program was introduced at the Nursing Informatics Forum annual meeting at the April 2023 HIMSS Conference & Exhibition.

The 15-minute wellness breaks at the Nursing Informatics (NI) Forum was geared for health promotion, coping skills development, and focus on self-care versus caregiver responsibilities. This was initiated in light of the growing body of empirical evidence on the benefits complementary and integrative health approaches on healthcare professionals.

Afterward, an evaluation survey was sent to the 215 attendees of the NI forum to glean information on the respondent demographics and their opinions on the wellness breaks program. Specifically, their effectiveness and areas for improvement.

The three wellness breaks offered in between educational sessions included stretching exercises which had the most participants with 91%; meditation and dance with 87% and 69% participants, respectively. All activities scored a satisfaction rate of 98% or higher.

Thanks to the popular responses to this pilot wellness break program, these breaks will become a part of future HIMSS membership benefits. Further support was highly recommended by all nursing members surveyed, including longer break sessions and expanding this program to other groups within the organization.