Teaching Mindfulness to Mitigate Burnout in a Pandemic

Posttraumatic stress syndrome has been on the rise across all nursing specialties. When dealing with high-stress situations in the workplace, it has become clear that health care providers require tools to maintain a healthy environment.

The purpose of this article is to describe an initiative to provide baccalaureate nursing students with mindfulness techniques to manage their internal reactions to day-to-day events during a pandemic.

This is an innovative classroom initiative reviewing nursing student engagement on a discussion board related to mindfulness reflection questions before and after implementing an 8-week mindfulness program conducted from August to October 2020 in a first-year undergraduate nursing program in Texas.

A total of 124 student nurses participated in a mindfulness program. The majority of these were women (83.9%), aged 19-50 years, single (78.2%), and Hispanic or Latino (84.7%). Discussion board engagement increased from n = 1,001 posts over 16-week premindfulness program implementation to n = 4,191 over the first 10 weeks of the program implementation.

Nursing implications include providing an atmosphere in which nurses can practice mindfulness skills, such as being in touch with their thoughts and bodies, which will help them transition into the position of trauma nurse. As nurse educators, it is our responsibility to assist in developing tools that students and patients may use to deal with their anxiety and foster an environment that promotes learning, understanding, and compassion.