Addressing Clinician Burnout: A Unifying Systems Medicine Model with Meditation as a Heart-mind Intervention.
Heart Mind September 18, 2023 Robert H. Schneider, Fred Travis, Tony Nader 9 citations
More than 50% of US physicians report at least one symptom of burnout, and 28% of cardiologists report mental health conditions. Burnout is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) through mechanisms like sympathetic nervous system activation and inflammation. The Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique has been studied in four recent trials among healthcare providers, showing reductions in burnout, stress, anxiety, and depression, and improvements in resilience. TM is also associated with reduced blood pressure and CVD risk. The authors propose a systems medicine model called the Square of Health, integrating spiritual, mental, physical, and environmental domains, with a unified field of consciousness as the foundation, to address burnout and CVD.