The series was designed as twice/month roundtables for cohorts of nurse leaders and nurses in their first year of professional nursing practice. The cohort of nurse leaders and nurses in the first year of practice were purposefully designated for this project. Nurse leaders play a key role in establishing the unit culture and for promoting high quality, patient centered care. As the leadership group becomes knowledgeable about and practitioners of mindfulness, they will be able to support their staff to become more aware of the importance of taking care of themselves, in order to better interact with others and to care for their patients. As identified by the American Organization of Nurse Executives, nurse leaders serve as initiators and the primary influence in creating positive, safe and healthful practice/work environments. The second cohort, nurses in their first year of professional practice are particularly vulnerable as they transition from the role of student nurse to professional nurse. In addition, these new nurses are often working night shift, where caring for self is critical and where they may have less interaction with and access to the resources of the organization. Providing this group mindfulness training may enhance employment retention as well as allow them to model self-care behaviors for other staff in the healthcare environment. The organization makes a significant financial investment in the hiring and orientation of new nurses. When these individuals leave a position because of stress, burnout or feeling overwhelmed the cost to the organization is between $50,000.00-100,000.00. In other words, supporting new nurses during the first year of practice is significant to career trajectory, quality patient care and the financial health of the organization.
Each interactive session was 60 minutes in duration and presented the participants with techniques to center themselves, to relax, reflect and re-energize, and to care for themselves so they are able to care for others. Group size is limited to 12 participants to encourage deep sharing and reflection.
Participants completed pre- and post-intervention survey related to anxiety, self-compassion and perceived wellness to demonstrate if the series makes a difference. Quantifiable outcomes of participation include a decrease in the participant’s score on the anxiety scale and an increase in the score on the self-compassion and perceived wellness scales. In addition, patient satisfaction score before and after the intervention are being analyzed.
To facilitate replication of this endeavor by others, this presentation will focus on the process of designing, implementing and evaluating this program in a busy, acute care organization as well as the challenges and opportunities we learned from in the process.