Implementing Brief Mindfulness-Based Interventions to Reduce Compassion Fatigue.

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Psychology
• Public Health

Background:

• Surgical-trauma nurses face significant work-related stressors, increasing susceptibility to compassion fatigue.
• The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated stress and burnout among nurses in a converted surgical-trauma unit.
• Nurses lacked coping mechanisms for pandemic-related work stress.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of brief mindfulness-based interventions on compassion fatigue among surgical-trauma nurses.
• To assess the effectiveness of mindfulness in mitigating burnout and secondary traumatic stress.
• To determine if mindfulness practices improve compassion satisfaction in a high-stress nursing environment.

Main Methods:

• Mindfulness champions delivered 5-minute interventions (meditation, deep breathing, self-compassion) during shift huddles.
• The Professional Quality of Life, version 5 (ProQOL V) questionnaire assessed pre- and post-intervention outcomes.
• Paired-sample t tests analyzed changes in burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion satisfaction.

Main Results:

• An 85% response rate (29/34 nurses) provided matched pre- and post-intervention data.
• Significant improvements were observed across all subscale scores post-intervention.
• Burnout decreased by 9.35% (P=.003), secondary traumatic stress by 11.89% (P=.005), and compassion satisfaction increased by 6.44% (P=.03).

Conclusions:

• Brief mindfulness interventions integrated into shift huddles effectively reduced burnout and secondary traumatic stress in nurses.
• Mindfulness practices provided a valuable coping mechanism for work-related stress.
• These interventions demonstrably improved nurses' compassion satisfaction and reduced compassion fatigue.