Do you know your emotional triggers, those particular situations that cause a surge of stress or anger?

Feeling overwhelmed is a common response in times of high pressure, and the pandemic has brought even more challenges for healthcare staff.

Yet self-care can appear a self-indulgence practised by people with time and energy.

But does it have to be that way? A free massive online open course (MOOC) is offering self-care and well-being support as something ‘learners’ can dip into when they can.

In this episode of the podcast, course tutor Tonks Fawcett, who is professor of student learning (nurse education) at University of Edinburgh, explains how the course works and its popularity among global healthcare staff.

Professor Fawcett talks about the three-step breathing space practice and a simple hand-fist exercise to support frazzled nervous systems, and the importance of knowing and accepting our vulnerabilities and learning how to respond to them.

The course Self care and wellbeing: A practical guide for health and social care is jointly run by FutureLearn, University of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and is open to all healthcare staff including nursing students.

It follows a highly popular MOOC for critical care staff used by 57,000 workers, which identified the need for a tailored well-being course.

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/self-care-and-wellbeing-a-practical-guide-for-health-and-social-care

For more episodes of the Nursing Standard podcast, visit rcni.com/podcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.