Addressing Burnout Among PeriAnesthesia Nurses Through a Mindfulness-Based Self-Help Intervention: A Quality...

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Mental Health

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated burnout in the nursing workforce, leading to turnover.
• Mindfulness-Based Self-Help (MBSH) interventions show promise in mitigating nurse burnout.

Purpose of the Study:

• To implement and evaluate an MBSH intervention for reducing burnout among Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) nurses.
• To assess the acceptability of a mindfulness application among PACU nurses.

Main Methods:

• A quality improvement project utilized the Plan-Do-Study-Act model over four weeks.
• A pre-test/post-test design assessed burnout using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) before and after a four-week mindfulness application subscription.
• Qualitative surveys evaluated intervention acceptability.

Main Results:

• A statistically significant reduction in emotional exhaustion scores was observed post-intervention (p = .021).
• Improvements in depersonalization and personal accomplishment were noted but not statistically significant.
• Ninety-four percent of participants expressed willingness to use similar interventions in the future.

Conclusions:

• MBSH interventions are associated with improved burnout levels in nursing staff.
• The mindfulness application intervention demonstrated high participant satisfaction.
• MBSH interventions may be an effective strategy for addressing burnout in perianesthesia nurses.