Empowering Nurses to Provide Humanized Care in Canadian Hospital Care Units: A Qualitative Study.

Previous studies have reported a conflict between nurses' motivation to provide humanized care and practical requirements impeding them from doing so. This exploratory descriptive qualitative study aimed to explore nurses' perspectives on humanized care, the challenges they face, and, most importantly, their recommendations to overcome these barriers. Semistructured individual interviews were conducted with 17 auxiliary and registered nurses working in various health care units in a Canadian hospital. Participants demonstrated a good understanding of what humanized care covers and entails. They also described it as the very core of their profession and main source of job satisfaction. However, nurses reported that they are confronted with organizational barriers, mainly a lack of staff, the burden of administrative tasks, unsuitable physical environments or equipment, and little managerial support. Nurses stressed the need for a cultural change in managerial practices in order to be able to improve their provision of humanized care. Based on the findings, 4 structuring recommendations were identified: adopting an institutional policy promoting the implementation of humanized care, incorporating humanized care in nurses' tasks and procedures, improving participatory management, and ensuring adequate staffing.

A mixed-methods systematic review of the effects of mindfulness on nurses.

AIM: To review the effects of mindfulness-based interventions on Registered Nurses and nursing students. BACKGROUND: Work-related stress among nurses is estimated to be the biggest occupational health problem after musculoskeletal disorders. DESIGN: A mixed-method systematic review incorporating quantitative and qualitative data was conducted. DATA SOURCES: Studies on the effects of mindfulness-based interventions for nurses and nursing students published between 1980 and 2014 were identified through a systematic search in electronic databases: Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library and Cinahl. REVIEW METHODS: Data analysis was conducted based on the framework of Thomas and Harden (2004). RESULTS: A total of 32 studies, including 17 controlled designs, 11 pre-post designs and four qualitative designs were reviewed. Meta-analysis suggests that mindfulness-based interventions may be effective in significantly reducing state anxiety and depression at posttreatment and state anxiety and trait anxiety at follow-up. Qualitative studies and uncontrolled studies shed light on benefits overlooked in RCTs, including improvements in the well-being of individuals (e.g. inner state of calmness, awareness and enthusiasm) and improved performance at work (better communication with colleagues and patients, higher sensitivity to patients' experiences, clearer analysis of complex situations and emotional regulation in stressful contexts). CONCLUSIONS: Mindfulness appeared to improve nurses' mental health significantly. It could be used in worksite health promotion programmes. Only a few studies have explored the impact of mindfulness on nurses' professional behaviours and their relationships with patients and colleagues. Future research should further explore the long-term impacts of mindfulness on performance and well-being at work using sound methodological designs.