The value of intentional self-care practices: The effects of mindfulness on improving job satisfaction, teamwork, and workplace environments.

BACKGROUND: Burnout rates among nurses have detrimental impact on job satisfaction, teamwork, and patient care. This costs millions of dollars in the healthcare system and challenges nurse leaders to address in order to keep up with the healthcare demands. Furthermore, burnout is especially relevant in our current healthcare climate, as frontline nurses have increased workload and multiple psychosocial stressors during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic (Sultana, Sharma, Hossain, Bhattacharya, & Purohit, 2019). Literature also suggests that mindful self-care practices need to be reinforced in order to impact burnout long term (Chamorro-Premuzic & Lusk, 2017). Project7 Mindfulness Pledge© is an accessible and voluntary mindfulness tool that nurses can utilize in their individual practice to reduce burnout and does not require significant time commitment. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of intentional self-care practices on nurse burnout and workplace environment by measuring job satisfaction and teamwork among nurses. METHODS: Comparisons between inpatient units on data from the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) with the Practice Environment Scale (PES), specifically on job enjoyment and teamwork, were done utilizing ANOVA. RESULTS: Results show that nurses in an inpatient unit that implemented Project7 has significantly higher job satisfaction as compared to units that did not implement Project7. CONCLUSIONS: This suggests that this tool provides an effective and accessible mindfulness framework managers and directors can utilize to improve job satisfaction, teamwork, and thereby reduce burnout to create healthier work environments.

Moving from practice to praxis: A qualitative descriptive study revealing the value of Project7 Mindfulness Pledge©.

AIM: To examine the experiences of nurses and nursing assistants who participated in a mindfulness project. BACKGROUND: Increased demands and fewer resources have become the norm in most health care settings. As a result, health care professionals face exceptional stress in their work environments and are vulnerable to burnout and compassion fatigue. Even more distressing, many new nurses are leaving their jobs within the first two years. METHODS: Qualitative interviews were conducted with nine participants to discover their experience with the project. RESULTS: The major theme, a process of moving from practice to praxis, is brought forth through in-depth descriptive analysis of nine individual interviews. The process occurred through three themes: fostering self-awareness and compassion; fostering other-awareness and compassion; and compelling transformation in the unit culture. CONCLUSIONS: This study develops an evidence base for incorporating and building mindfulness into health care environments at a time when there is a tremendous need for highly functioning practitioners. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Nurse leaders are encouraged to examine how they can support their staff in moving from practice to praxis as a part of improving professional well-being, retention, quality and safety in health care.