New York Chapter of the American College of Physicians

A research project to identify and study the impact of training for primary care physicians on skills of mindfulness and narrative reflection, and to measure the impact of such changes in order to address the increasing levels of stress, demoralization

Executive Summary: The purpose of this project was to determine whether an intensive educational program in mindfulness, communication and self-awareness improves primary care physicians’ well-being, psychological distress, burnout and capacity for relating to patients. The findings of this research support the grantee’s hypothesis that the proposed intervention would have a positive impact on reducing physician burnout and improving well-being. The grantee reports that participants in the Mindful Communication program experienced immediate and sustained improvements in well-being and attitudes associated with patient-centered care. Specifically, the primary care physicians experienced improved measures of burnout and improved mood. The intervention also resulted in positive changes in empathy and psychosocial beliefs, both indicators of a patient-centered orientation to medical care that have been associated with patient-centered behaviors.

Website: http://www.nyacp.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1