Addressing Barriers to Healthy Eating for Hospital-Based Nurses: Testing the Effects Occupational Health Nurses Have on Nurses’ Diets

Abstract. Nurses are indispensable to the functioning of our hospitals, but due to the nature of their job and the poor work environment they must endure, they are reaching their breaking point. A review of the literature shows that there are numerous barriers to nurses’ healthy eating in a hospital setting. Nurses’ diets are crucial for maintaining their health, patient health, and the efficient running of the hospital, making it an important topic to address to ensure a stable future for our healthcare system. However, despite the clear importance of this issue, there have been very few interventions conducted targeting nurses’ workplace diets. It has been suggested that the introduction of an occupational health nurse could be the intervention needed to improve the diets and overall wellness of nurses. This paper proposes a study that will examine the effects of introducing occupational health nurses into the hospital with the goal of improving nurses’ diets. The study will follow the progress nurses make in diet and wellness factors after 8 months of working with an occupational health nurse. The results are expected to demonstrate an improvement in dietary and general wellbeing scores. This study will act as a steppingstone to further identify the key influences on nurses’ diets as well as successful interventions to improve nurses’ wellbeing. Contributing to the literature on this topic will also provide leverage to make policy changes that prioritize the wellbeing of healthcare workers for the betterment of the healthcare system