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A Targeted Mindfulness Curriculum for Medical Students During Their Emergency Medicine Clerkship Experience.

Arlene S Chung, Rachel Felber, Ethan Han, Tina Mathew, Katie Rebillot, Antonios Likourezos

Western Journal of Emergency Medicine July 2018 DOI: 10.5811/westjem.2018.4.37018 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Pilot study Peer reviewed
Sample size 20
Population Senior medical students participating in an emergency medicine clerkship
Intervention prerequisite reading assignments
Duration Four-week clerkship; follow-up six months after participation
Topics Meditation
Key points The authors report that a mindfulness-based curriculum integrated into an emergency medicine clerkship produced significant changes in students' self-reported behaviors and attitudes immediately after participation, and these changes were sustained up to six months later. They describe the study as a pilot and suggest the curriculum could be adapted for other four-week rotations to reduce burnout and increase physician wellness.

Abstract

Despite high rates of burnout in senior medical students, many schools provide the majority of their wellness training during the first and second preclinical years. Students planning a career in emergency medicine (EM) may be at particularly high risk of burnout, given that EM has one of the highest burnout rates of all the specialties in the United States We developed an innovative, mindfulness-based curriculum designed to be integrated into a standard EM clerkship for senior medical students to help students manage stress and reduce their risk of burnout. The curriculum included these components: (1) four, once-weekly, 60-minute classroom sessions; (2) prerequisite reading assignments; (3) individual daily meditation practice and journaling; and (4) the development of a personalized wellness plan with the help of a mentor. The design was based on self-directed learning theory and focused on building relatedness, competence, and autonomy to help cultivate mindfulness. Thirty students participated in the curriculum; 20 were included in the final analysis. Each student completed surveys prior to, immediately after, and six months after participation in the curriculum. We found significant changes in the self-reported behaviors and attitudes of the students immediately following participation in the curriculum, which were sustained up to six months later. Although this was a pilot study, our pilot curriculum had a significantly sustained self-reported behavioral impact on our students. In the future, this intervention could easily be adapted for any four-week rotation during medical school to reduce burnout and increase physician wellness.

Comparable studies

Other non-randomized and open-label trials on meditation, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in Relation to Quality of Life, Mood, Symptoms of Stress, and Immune Parameters in Breast and Prostate Cancer Outpatients Early-stage breast and prostate cancer patients 2003 Pre-post intervention study n = 59
Exploring self‐compassion and empathy in the context of mindfulness‐based stress reduction (MBSR) Community sample 2010 Pre-post intervention study
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Lowers Psychological Distress In Medical Students Second-year medical students 2003 Prospective nonrandomized cohort-controlled study n = 302
Intensive meditation training, immune cell telomerase activity, and psychological mediators. Retreat participants and matched controls 2011 Controlled trial with wait-list control group n = 60
The Effectiveness of Mindfulness Training for Children with ADHD and Mindful Parenting for their Parents Children aged 8-12 with ADHD and their parents 2011 Within-group waitlist controlled trial n = 22

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