Heal the Healers: A pilot study evaluating the feasibility, acceptability, and exploratory efficacy of a Transcendental Meditation intervention for emergency clinicians during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic

Heal the Healers: A pilot study evaluating the feasibility, acceptability, and exploratory efficacy of a Transcendental Meditation intervention for emergency clinicians during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic

Objective Emergency clinicians face elevated rates of burnout that result in poor outcomes for clinicians, patients, and health systems. The objective of this single‐arm pilot study was to evaluate the feasibility of a Transcendental Meditation (TM) intervention for emergency clinicians during the c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians Open Vol. 2; no. 6; pp. e12619 - n/a
Main Authors: Azizoddin, Desiree R., Kvaternik, Noelia, Beck, Meghan, Zhou, Guohai, Hasdianda, Mohammad Adrian, Jones, Natasha, Johnsky, Lily, Im, Dana, Chai, Peter R., Boyer, Edward W.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01-12-2021
John Wiley and Sons Inc
Wiley
Subjects:
burnout
clinician intervention
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Emergency medical care
Intervention
meditation
nurse burnout
Original Research
PA burnout
pandemic
Pandemics
physician burnout
Physician Wellness
pilot study
transcendental meditation
video‐delivery
nurse burnout
covid‐19
video‐delivery
physician burnout
clinician intervention
transcendental meditation
meditation
pilot study
PA burnout
burnout
pandemic
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Summary:Objective Emergency clinicians face elevated rates of burnout that result in poor outcomes for clinicians, patients, and health systems. The objective of this single‐arm pilot study was to evaluate the feasibility of a Transcendental Meditation (TM) intervention for emergency clinicians during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic and to explore the potential effectiveness in improving burnout, sleep, and psychological health. Methods Emergency clinicians (physicians, nurses, and physician‐assistants) from 2 urban hospitals were recruited to participate in TM instruction (8 individual or group in‐person and remote sessions) for 3 months. Session attendance was the primary feasibility outcome (prespecified as attending 6/8 sessions), and burnout was the primary clinical outcome. Participant‐reported measures of feasibility and validated measures of burnout, depression, anxiety, sleep disturbance, and stress were collected at baseline and the 1‐month and 3‐month follow‐ups. Descriptive statistics and linear mixed‐effects models were used. Results Of the 14 physicians (46%), 7 nurses (22%), and 10 physician‐assistants (32%) who participated, 61% were female (n = 19/32). TM training and at‐home meditation practice was feasible for clinicians as 90.6% (n = 29/32) attended 6/8 training sessions and 80.6% self‐reported meditating at least once a day on average. Participants demonstrated significant reductions in burnout (P < .05; effect sizes, Cohen's d = 0.43–0.45) and in symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, and sleep disturbance (P values < .001; Cohen's d = 0.70–0.87). Conclusion TM training was feasible for emergency clinicians during the COVID‐19 pandemic and led to significant reductions in burnout and psychological symptoms. TM is a safe and effective meditation tool to improve clinicians’ well‐being.
Bibliography:The David Lynch Foundation and The National Palliative Care Research Center.
Funding and support
Supervising Editor: Henry Wang, MD, MS.
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
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Funding and support: The David Lynch Foundation and The National Palliative Care Research Center.
ISSN:2688-1152
2688-1152
DOI:10.1002/emp2.12619