• To understand the barriers to healthy eating among nurses
• To recognise methods for improving the availability of healthy food and exercise in the healthcare environment
• To count towards revalidation as part of your 35 hours of CPD, or you may wish to write a reflective account (UK readers)
• To contribute towards your professional development and local registration renewal requirements (non-UK readers)
Across the world obesity rates in the general population have been increasing in recent years, a trend that has also been seen among nurses. Alongside the negative health effects of obesity such as type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease, the condition affects an individual’s ability to work and results in increasing rates of absenteeism. However, the nature of nursing shift patterns and the healthcare workplace itself can influence a nurse’s ability to eat healthily.
This article discusses how obesity and healthy eating can affect the nursing role, as well as examining leadership and management practices that can support healthy eating in the workplace. The article is aimed at supporting nurse managers to reflect on their own lifestyle behaviour, which in turn will enable them to engage more with the topic of healthy eating among staff.
Nursing Management. doi: 10.7748/nm.2021.e1974
Peer reviewThis article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software
Correspondence Conflict of interestNone declared
Davies R (2021) Promoting healthy eating in nurses. Nursing Management. doi: 10.7748/nm.2021.e1974
Published online: 23 March 2021
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