Burnout

Rejuvenate Doctors Conveniently with Mindfulness

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“Mindfulness gives doctors permission to attend to their own health and well-being. But it also allows doctor to help patients by listening more, talking less, and seeing what the patients need.” – Dr. Mary Catherine Beach

 

“That’s the thing: You don’t understand burnout unless you’ve been burned out. And it’s something you can’t even explain. It’s just doing something you have absolutely no passion for.” – Elena Delle Donne

 

It is estimated that there is a shortage in the U.S. of over 9,000 physicians. The shortages are not just due to training insufficient numbers of healthcare provides but also due to high turnover rates. In part because of the shortage and high patient loads, physicians experience high stress and burnout. They experience a loss of enthusiasm for work, feelings of cynicism, and a low sense of personal accomplishment. This is known as burnout.

 

In a recent survey 46% of all physicians responded that they had burnout. Currently, over a third of healthcare workers report that they are looking for a new job. Nearly half plan to look for a new job over the next two years and 80% expressed interest in a new position if they came across the right opportunity. Since there is such a great need to retain experienced physicians, it is imperative that strategies be identified to decrease stress and burnout.

 

Mindfulness training has been shown to be effective for burnout of health care professionals (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/burnout/). But todays physicians are extremely busy and have little time to devote to mindfulness training. Hence, it is important to develop a mindfulness training that can be administered conveniently and is effective. In today’s Research News article “Brief Video-Module Administered Mindfulness Program for Physicians: A Pilot Study”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1160431203980804/?type=3&theater

Pflugeisen and colleagues developed a mindfulness training consisting of “three live sessions, eight online video trainings, and weekly teleconference coaching calls.”  Other than the live sessions all of the trainings could be accessed at a time and place of the physicians’ convenience. In a pilot study, they found that in comparison to pre-training the physicians showed large and significant decreases in stress and emotional exhaustion, and increases in feelings of personal accomplishment, and mindfulness. These improvements were still present 16-weeks later.

 

These pilot results are very encouraging. The program was not only effective in improving physician well-being, it was convenient for the physicians, as it was delivered for the most part when the physicians had time to engage. This makes this program much more likely to be initiated and completed by busy physicians. There is, of course, a need for a randomized controlled trial before rolling out this program for widespread use.

 

These results suggest that mindfulness is to some extent an antidote to high stress and burnout in physicians. There are a number of effects to mindfulness training that could be responsible for the reduced perceived stress and increased well-being. In particular mindfulness has been shown to reduce both physiological and psychological responses to stress (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/stress/). Mindfulness has also been shown to increase emotion regulation, allowing the individual to experience and respond to emotional situations appropriately and constructively and thereby reduces stress (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/emotions/). Finally, mindfulness training is targeted to increasing focus on the present moment. This tends to reduce catastrophizing, worry, and anxiety which are focused on potential negative future events (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/worry/) and thereby can reduce psychological stress in physicians.

 

Regardless of the reason it is clear that mindfulness training can be delivered conveniently to busy physician and it can reduce burnout and improve well-being.

 

So, rejuvenate doctors conveniently with mindfulness

 

“If you asked my patients, I think they would say I listen more carefully since the training and that they feel they can explain things to me more forthrightly and more easily. Even the brief moments with patients are more productive. Are there doctors who desperately need this training? Yes, absolutely.” – Edward Stehlik, M.D.
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

“Physician, Heal Thyself” with Mindfulness

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“As physicians we owe our patients two things– only two things– our time and our skill. We do not owe our patients our lives. To excessively devote our lives to the practice of medicine while we neglect other aspects of living may be tantamount to never having lived at all.” – Joseph D. Wassersug, M.D.

 

Primary healthcare provides are a critical component of any healthcare system. Yet there is a shortage of primary care providers. It is estimated that there is a shortage in the U.S. of over 9,000 physicians. The shortages are not just due to training insufficient numbers of healthcare provides but also due to high turnover rates. In part because of the shortage and high patient loads, primary healthcare providers experience high stress and burnout. They experience a loss of enthusiasm for work, feelings of cynicism, and a low sense of personal accomplishment.

 

In a recent survey 46% of all physicians responded that they had burnout. Currently, over a third of healthcare workers report that they are looking for a new job. Nearly half plan to look for a new job over the next two years and 80% expressed interest in a new position if they came across the right opportunity. Since there is such a great need to retain primary healthcare providers, it is imperative that strategies be identified to decrease stress and burnout.

 

Mindfulness is a possible help in reducing perceived stress and burnout. Indeed, high mindfulness has been shown to be associated with less stress and burnout in emergency medicine personnel (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/10/burnout-burnout-with-mindfulness/). This is promising and suggests theat there is a need for continued research into the relationship of mindfulness and stress in primary healthcare providers.

In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness, perceived stress, and subjective well-being: a correlational study in primary care health professionals”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1106301519393773/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4557919/

Atanes and colleagues performed a survey of 450 primary healthcare provider in Brazil, including family physicians, registered nurses, nursing assistants, and community health workers. They measured mindfulness, perceived stress and subjective well-being and found that these groups reported high levels of perceived stress. Importantly, they found that high levels of mindfulness were associated with low levels of perceived stress and high levels of subjective well-being.

 

These results suggest that mindfulness is to some extent and antidote to high stress and burnout in primary healthcare providers. There are a number of benefits to mindfulness that could be responsible for the reduced perceived stress and increased well-being. In particular mindfulness has been shown to reduce both physiological and psychological responses to stress (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/destress-with-mindfulness/). Mindfulness has also been shown to increase emotion regulation which prepares the individual to experience and respond to emotional situations appropriately and thereby reduces stress (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/be-smart-about-emotions/). Finally, mindfulness is associated with higher levels of focus on the present moment. This tends to reduce catastrophizing, worry, and anxiety (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/stop-worrying/) and thereby can reduce psychological stress in primary healthcare providers.

 

These results are potentially important and strongly suggest that the employment of mindfulness training might help primary healthcare providers deal with the stresses of their work environments. This need to be studied with controlled trials. Additionally, the results may have more far reaching applicability than just to the healthcare field. Mindfulness may help with all kinds of stresses in all kinds of situations. Obviously more research is needed in this promising area.

 

So, practice mindfulness and heal thyself from stress and burnout.

 

“Stress, burnout and strain on the human heart are all increasingly taking their toll for millions of hardworking people. However, even someone who is working in a job that simply ‘pays the bills’ can turn mundane and stressful tasks into pleasant activities with a slight adjustment in attitude and by adopting a daily mindful practice.” ― Christopher Dines
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Burnout Burnout with Mindfulness

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Stress is epidemic in the western workplace with almost two thirds of workers reporting high levels of stress at work. In high stress occupations burnout is all too prevalent. This is the fatigue, cynicism, and professional inefficacy that comes with work-related stress.

Healthcare is a high stress occupation. It is estimated that over 45% of healthcare workers experience burnout with emergency medicine at the top of the list, over half experiencing burnout. With there being a shortage of doctors and nurses preventing existing healthcare workers from burning out is a priority.

How can burnout be prevented or mitigated? One potential treatment is mindfulness training. A study investigating mindfulness’ association with burnout in emergency room nurses is reported in today’s Research News article “Protective benefits of mindfulness in emergency room personnel. Journal of affective disorders”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1066150153408910/?type=1&theater

Westphal and colleagues report that indeed stress is prevalent in the ER. It is most frequently associated with interpersonal conflicts and large numbers of consecutive days working. But mindfulness appeared to help as high mindfulness was associated with lower levels of anxiety, depression, and burnout in the ER nurses.

Mindfulness may help in this high stress context by helping with the interpersonal conflicts that are reported to be at the root of their stress and burnout. Mindfulness has been shown to improve interpersonal relationships and social connectedness. This may be very helpful in dealing effectively with co-workers and thereby reducing stress and improving social resources for dealing with the stress.

Mindfulness has also been shown to reduce distress contagion. This occurs when one person observes another suffering a disease or injury and experiences in one’s physical body a similar or related distress. This is common in nurse–patient relationship particularly with empathetic nurses. In fact, this distress contagion is the physical equivalent to empathy. By reducing this distress contagion mindfulness may be reducing stress and burnout.

Mindfulness has also been shown to improve emotion regulation. Mindful people are better at recognizing their emotions and responding to them effectively. Mindful people experience emotions fully, but recognize them and don’t let them dictate what they do. This allows them to work effectively in an emotionally charged environment like the ER.

Finally, mindfulness is known to reduce the psychological and physical responses to stress. Being mindful doesn’t inoculate the individual from stress. Rather it blunts stress’ effects on them. This occurs on a physical level with lower stress hormone responses and lower sympathetic activation in response to stress. It also occurs on the psychological level with less anxiety and depression produced by the stress.

So, burnout burnout with mindfulness!

CMCS