Association of an Educational Program in Mindful Communication With Burnout, Empathy, and Attitudes Among Primary Care Physicians
JAMA September 22, 2009 Michael S. Krasner 1,652 citations
Primary care physicians who participated in an intensive educational program in mindfulness, communication, and self-awareness showed sustained improvements in well-being and patient-centered attitudes. Over 15 months, mindfulness scores increased from 45.2 to 54.1, emotional exhaustion (a component of burnout) decreased from 26.8 to 20.0, depersonalization decreased from 8.4 to 5.9, and personal accomplishment increased from 40.2 to 42.6. Empathy scores rose from 116.6 to 121.2, and total mood disturbance dropped from 33.2 to 16.1. Improvements in mindfulness correlated with reduced mood disturbance and burnout and with increased empathy and emotional stability. Because this was a before-and-after study, randomized trials are needed to confirm these effects.