Title : Evaluating the implementation of a mindfulness-based training session for nursing burnout: A quality improvement project
Abstract:
This quality improvement project focuses on recognizing nursing burnout and how participating in a mindfulness training session can positively affect burnout scores among registered nurses and increase the quality of patient care. Burnout is a frequent phenomenon in nursing due to the demanding nature of the nursing profession and the high prevalence of emotional strain within the clinical setting. Fundamental nursing values are often neglected when nurses are stressed while providing care. Burnout among nurses in the United States has been steadily increasing for years but even more so since the COVID-19 pandemic. Statistics suggest that burnout is a serious healthcare issue affecting the nursing profession and negatively impacts the value of patient care. The increasing prevalence of burnout also justifies it as a significant challenge in clinical practice. Burnout can be managed effectively through appropriate evidence-based interventions. Mindfulness training is a practical, evidence-based intervention for addressing burnout among registered nurses. Facilities that utilize mindfulness training show a reduction in burnout and a decrease in hospital-acquired infections, for a total yearly cost savings of up to millions. By decreasing stress and increasing the nurse’s attention span, nurses can participate entirely in the patient care experience, reduce nursing errors, and improve the patient experience. This project includes registered nurses working in an acute care facility participating in a pre-and post-education survey using the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey-Medical Personnel (MBI-HSS-MP) to measure the registered nurse’s perception of the prevalence, intensity, and frequency of burnout. An educational training session on mindfulness is given between the survey responses. The project hopes to decrease the occurrence of nursing burnout as well as decrease hospital-acquired infection rates by utilizing a mindfulness training session.
Keywords: burnout, compassion fatigue, COVID-19, Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey- Medical Personnel (MBI-HSS-MP), mindfulness training session, hospital-acquired infection.
Audience Take Away Notes:
- Every nurse needs to understand the emotional impact of burnout. Mindfulness is an evidence-based practice that has been shown to decrease burnout, decrease absenteeism caused by burnout, increase nurse satisfaction, and, in turn, help increase patient outcomes.
- Mindfulness must be taught not only to nurses who have been working for years but also to nursing students and new graduates. Nursing students and new graduates are missing changes in assessment findings because they are task-oriented and worried about what happened two hours ago and what they need not forget to chart. If they were practicing mindfulness (living in the present), they would be focused on their patients and changes in their patients and would be able to identify when things change and go wrong.
