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Mindfulness In Nursing

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For nurses, who routinely face stress inherent to their roles as care providers, mindfulness training seemingly offers an ideal, adaptive solution. Mindfulness positively improves mood and promotes self-care, serving the nurse’s obligation to maintain their own well-being and personal health (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2015; Zeller & Levin, 2013). Attending mindfulness sessions also reportedly improves nurses’ performance, enhances situational alertness, and reduces employee injuries (Zeller & Levin, 2013). While these interventions do not provide the answer to external workplace stressors, such as demands placed on nurses to deliver higher standards of care despite reduced financial reimbursement (Zeller & Levin, 2013), mindfulness can alter an individual’s response to stress. For mindfulness to be effective as an intervention mechanism, it should be recognized for its benefits and limitations, embraced in practice, and used alongside other health-promotion behaviors. …show more content…
The major contributors to workplace stress for nurses are “workload, management, professional conflict, and the emotional demands of caring,” (Zeller & Levin, 2013, p. 86). Mindfulness should primarily be used to target role-related, interpersonal, and environmental stress when attempts to improve the physical environment are unsuccessful or unfeasible (Zeller & Levin, 2013). When these stress-promoting features cannot be reformed, the mindful practices of yoga and meditation can be used to focus on what can be changed, one’s personal response to external stress. Positive coping resources, such as mindfulness, in addition to supportive personal and professional relationships, enable nurses to effectively manage

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