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Enhancing Clinicians' Well-Being and Patient-Centered Care Through Mindfulness.

Patricia Lynn Dobkin, Nicolò Francesco Bernardi, Corinne Isnard Bagnis

The Journal of continuing education in the health professions 2016 DOI: 10.1097/ceh.0000000000000021 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Longitudinal cohort study Peer reviewed
Sample size 27
Population Clinicians, including nine medical doctors whose consultations were audio recorded
Intervention Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
Measures Rochester Communication Rating Scale (RCRS), Roter interaction analyses system
Topics Meditation
Key findings Mindfulness training was followed by significant reductions in clinicians' stress and burnout and increases in mindfulness and meaningfulness, with lower depersonalization associated with patients reporting being better understood. Doctors dominated consultations and were patient-centered at both time points.

Abstract

Mindful clinicians are resilient and more likely to provide patient-centered care. We aimed to enhance clinicians' well-being by offering a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course that teaches mindfulness and stress management and then determine whether this impacted their subsequent medical encounters. In a longitudinal cohort study with 27 clinicians, MBSR was taught by a certified instructor. Pre-MBSR and post-MBSR online questionnaires assessed burnout, depression, stress, meaningfulness, and mindfulness. Patients independently rated their clinicians using the Rochester Communication Rating Scale (RCRS) after a clinical encounter before and after their clinician took the MBSR course. Nine medical doctors audiorecorded the consultations before and after MBSR; the tapes were coded and analyzed by an independent team using the Roter interaction analyses system. Significant reductions in stress and burnout were found, and increases in mindfulness and meaningfulness. The decrease in stress was correlated with less judgmental attitudes and less reactivity-facets of mindfulness. The decrease in emotional exhaustion was correlated with more acting with awareness and less judgmental attitudes-facets of mindfulness. Patients' perceptions of the clinical encounter suggested that patient-centered care improved after MBSR. Decreased depersonalization was significantly associated with the RCRS subscale, "understanding of the patient's experience of illness." At both time points, doctors dominated the exchange and were patient-centered. Mindfulness has a direct and positive impact on clinicians' well-being. When clinicians' experienced less depersonalization, their patients reported being better understood.

Comparable studies

Other observational and cohort studies on meditation, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness Undergraduate students 2006 Observational cohort
Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders Patients with generalized anxiety disorder or panic disorder with or without agoraphobia 1992 Observational cohort n = 22
Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness Participants with extensive Insight meditation experience and matched controls 2005 Observational cohort n = 20
Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity Experienced meditators and matched meditation-naive controls 2011 Observational cohort
Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice Long-term Buddhist practitioners and controls 2004 Observational cohort

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