Major
Nursing
Advisor
Ferszt, Ginette
Advisor Department
Nursing, College of
Date
5-2017
Keywords
Nurse, Acute Care, Mindfulness
Abstract
The use of mindfulness as a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has greatly increased during the last few years due to growing evidence of its impact on brain functioning and symptomatology of certain diseases. Preliminary research has demonstrated its benefits not only for patients but healthcare providers as well. Mindfulness-based stress reduction courses have become more and more accessible for employees yielding positive results in terms of health and wellness. In particular, nurses have benefited from mindfulness exercises due to the high stress level of their jobs. With the growing popularity of mindfulness and its positive outcomes, it is important that we explore nurses’ views on incorporating this practice into patients’ care at a hospital facility.
Due to the lack of research on nurses’ perspectives on mindfulness relaxation techniques within the inpatient setting, I surveyed nurses on one medical- surgical unit with the hopes of gaining further insight on what would be the best way to develop an educational tool for patients. Nurses are present during patients’ stressful and emotional experiences when they are hospitalized. Therefore their perspectives on incorporating mindfulness in the clinical setting are important. To date, there is very little research regarding nurses’ thoughts on the use of mindfulness as part of the patient’s treatment plan. Given the results of this pilot study, I plan to raise awareness of the benefits of mindfulness in hospital facilities and make recommendations for future research.