Effect of mindfulness on stress, burnout of new graduate nurses

Editor's Note

This study by nurse researchers at Houston Methodist finds that integrating mindfulness training into a nurse residency program can help decrease stress and burnout in newly graduated nurses.

Mindfulness training was integrated at four points during the first 6 months of an existing nurse residency program, and intervention and nonintervention cohorts were compared.

The intervention cohort had significantly less burnout and stress and reported more mindfulness at 6 months than the nonintervention cohort.

The researchers concluded that it is feasible to integrate mindfulness training into a nurse residency program to help decrease stress and burnout in newly graduated nurses during their transition into practice. Newly graduated nurses often express increased stress and anxiety at 6 to 7 months of practice, a phenomenon referred to as reality shock, which is caused by incongruencies between their expectations of nursing and their daily work, the authors say.