A study design in which patients are randomly assigned either to a group that will receive an experimental treatment, or to another one that will receive a comparison or standard-of-care treatment, or a placebo.
Published in Chapter:
Medical Burnout: Is Mindfulness an Effective Coping Strategy?
Diogo Franco Santos (USF do Arco, ACES Lisboa Central, Portugal), Ana Rita Branco Silva (USF do Arco, ACES Lisboa Central, Portugal), Maria do Rosário Novo (USF do Arco, ACES Lisboa Central, Portugal), and Cristina Vaz de Almeida (ISCSP, CAPP, Portugal)
Copyright: © 2022
|Pages: 11
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-8682-2.ch012
Abstract
The WHO defines burnout as an inadequate response to chronic workplace stress, with emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced professional efficacy. Its growing incidence among physicians may adversely affect their personal and professional lives. Mindfulness aims to reach a state of consciousness in which one's attention is purposefully focused on the present. This chapter uses a narrative review of articles published between 2015 and 2019, with the MeSH terms “Burnout,” “Professional,” “Mindfulness,” and “Health Personnel.” Sixty-six articles were obtained, of which one meta-analysis, two systematic reviews, and two randomized clinical trials (RCT) met the inclusion criteria. All studies showed some degree of burnout improvement, more statistically significant as regards emotional exhaustion. One RCT also showed a reduction in heart rate. Available evidence suggests that mindfulness may improve physicians' well-being, mental health, and resilience, asserting itself as a possible coping strategy for burnout, namely regarding emotional exhaustion.