This study, which was a collaboration between the UVa Mindfulness Center, the Charlottesville Albemarle Rescue Squad and the UVa Departments of Surgery and Psychiatry, investigated whether a Mindfulness for Healthcare Providers (MHP) course can reduce distress and promote wellbeing among emergency medical services (EMS) providers. The MHP course is a modified version of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction taught in eight 2.5 hour weekly sessions with an all day retreat. A total of 15 EMS providers enrolled in the course and 11 completed it. After the course, EMS providers endorsed statistically significant increases in compassion satisfaction, trait mindfulness, and decreases in burnout compared to the beginning of the program. These changes were sustained at six months post-completion. This study demonstrates that mindfulness training has the potential to promote wellbeing and reduce burnout among EMS providers who work in a very high stress environment.
Ducar DM, Penberthy JK, Schorling JB, Leavell A, Calland J. Explore 2019: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2019.07.015 .
Filed Under: Monthly Musings