C08 – A Brief-Mindfulness Program: Increasing Physician Well-Being and Resilience

Summary

Background: In 2020, an estimated 42% of physicians reported burnout. Burnout is associated with impaired clinical care, attrition and turnover of professional staff, and increased healthcare costs. It also has multiple negative impacts on individuals including damage to relationships, increased rates of substance abuse, depression, and even suicide. Organizational interventions targeting excessive workload and stressful clinical environments have successfully reduced burnout scores. Benefits have also been demonstrated from programs that enhance individual coping skills. One such program being mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). MBSR was first utilized as an intervention within healthcare in the 1970s. Since that time, it has consistently been reported to be helpful in reducing burnout and promoting well-being and quality of patient care among health professionals. Rational: Our aim was to provide an organizational intervention of a virtual 8-week MBSR program targeted at fostering physician well-being and resilience. Method: This study utilized a single-sample, nonexperimental design comparing pre-, post-intervention scores on validated outcome measures including the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-9); the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21); the 14-item Resilience Scale (RS-14); and the Santa Clara Brief Compassion Scale (SCBC). We recruited 21 physicians within a large Midwestern Family Medicine residency program. The study utilized an 8-week, virtual, MBSR intervention led by a certified instructor. Each weekly session lasted 75-minutes. Topics included emotional intelligence, awareness, community building, communication, stress resilience, and more. Results: All 21 participants completed a baseline survey and 18 (86%) provided data in a post- intervention survey. The average age of participants was 32.9 (SD = 9.3); 52.4% were male; and 76.2% were resident physicians. Participants’ baseline scores on the MBI-9 were low, and showed no significant change. Participants reported significant improvement in anxiety (P<0.01) and stress (P<0.01) DASS-21 scores after the intervention. Participants also had a significant improvement in perceived resilience scores on the RS-14 and in compassion scores on the SCBC post-intervention (P<0.01). Presentation: We will provide an introduction to MBSR which will include an MBSR exercise (10 min). Second, methods of this study will be identified (5 min). Third, results from the study will be shared (5 min). Fourth, we will discuss limitations, next directions, and conclusions from the study (5 min). We will conclude with Q&A (5 min).