"I hate my job and I am leaving nursing!" After 3 years of caring for oncology patients and pursuing another degree, Johanna needed respite, I concluded as her teacher. However, it was not patient care that influenced her decision; it was the workplace environment and her nurse colleagues. We discussed her options. "You can hang in another six months, graduate with your masters, and move to another position. If you decide to leave nursing altogether, what will you do?" I asked.

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I am a stained glass artist and have been thinking about opening my own business. I know that it will be difficult, but it can't be worse than the lump in my throat every day as I drive to work; the negative atmosphere on my unit and the frank meanness of some of my coworkers. There is nothing you can say to convince me to stay where I am.

I sensed that this was not the time to push, so I wished Johanna well and told her that I would be her first stained glass customer. A year later, Johanna sent me an invitation to her commencement breakfast. Her note said,

After we talked a year ago, I quit my job and tried "the business," but I missed nursing and school. I found another position almost immediately, caring for women with breast cancer and working with caring and professional colleagues who encouraged me to return to school. Thanks for understanding my need to move on and for not making me feel guilty.

Over the years I have listened to far too many variations of Johanna's story from many other practicing nurses who were my students. Despite emphasis placed by health care organizations on promoting healthy work environments, it may be that a more proactive and personal approach should be taken to assessing possible workplaces in which you can thrive. "A great place to work is one in which you trust the people you work for, have pride in what you do and enjoy the people you work with," asserts Robert Levering¹ of Great Place to Work. Trust, pride, and enjoyment-it seems so simple, but work cultures that have fallen into negativity can be highly resistant to change.

Learn the characteristics of healthy work environments by starting at http://www.greatplacetowork.com. Assess your own participation in the culture of your unit or organization? Do you contribute to developing a caring, professional environment, or do you succumb to the negativity and accompanying stress? If, like Johanna, you drive to work each morning with that lump in your throat, it may be time to move on, to find a place where you can thrive as a person and grow as a professional.

I met Johanna for breakfast on the morning of her commencement. She gave me a gift, a prism surrounded by blue stained glass. It hangs in my office window as a reminder that self-care involves the search for places in which we can thrive professionally and creatively.

-Gloria F. Donnelly, PhD, RN, FAAN, FPCP

Editor-in-Chief