Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction – Video transcript

Dr. Rebecca Schwartz-Mette: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, or MBSR, is a evidence-based brief program that can be used as a prevention program or actually an intervention for people who are already experiencing some level of stress or challenges dealing with their stress.

Gwyneth Esty-Kendall: Nurses can learn a lot of different skills,  they can really get in touch with their own needs, and learn how to advocate for themselves, better advocate for their patients, they can learn how to to really be present in challenging situations even during really stressful times which we know nursing is a can be a really stressful profession so it can also really build their skills of self-compassion which can help them be more compassionate and kind towards others as well.

Dr. Kelly Strout: There are strategies focused on breathing, meditation. mindful movement, communication strategies, listening strategies, simple interventions for difficult conversations or stressful moments.

Maile Sapp: My background is actually in sport and performance psychology where I have been very interested in addressing burnout which is what WellNurse is seeking to do for nursing students so it has allowed me to really expand and broaden my horizons to learn how to navigate stress better in hopes of preventing burnout while also addressing burnout that students are currently facing.

Schwartz-Mette: Wider than shoulder width apart, we’ll float the arms out to the sides, palms facing down.

Strout: This intervention has significant research to support its effectiveness but it has not been well studied amongst nursing students, which is what we are embracing here in the School of Nursing and so far we have found in our data that our students are showing significant reductions in perceived stress, increased mindfulness, and reductions in burnout which is our primary aim.

Sapp: Ultimately the goal is that these tools are really just a gateway for the students to uncover that the tools that they already do have so that they can be carried out into their everyday lives into their future professions and implemented before that burnout crash comes. And if it does, which is very common, that they have resources to tap into to help mitigate that.

Strout: And we’re seeing this across the country with significant increases in nurses leaving the profession altogether because of high rates of burnout and stress and we cannot provide the best evidence-based care to patients if we are not nourishing our own health spiritually, emotionally, physically, psychologically, we have to care for ourselves before we can provide the best care to patients.

Esty-Kendall: Nurses are really trying to help patients be as healthy as they can so if they can be as healthy first and model that that can go a long way. [Music]