What is the background for this study? Dr. Lebares: This study was inspired by extensive evidence of the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) for mitigating stress and enhancing performance in other high-stress populations like police and the military. We know that overwhelming stress is related to burnout and to cognitive errors – two critical issues within surgery, today. This prompted us to tailor and streamline an MBI specifically for surgeons, and to test it in our trainees.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?
Dr. Lebares: This was a pilot study, as recommended by the NIH and in line with research in sustainable implementation practices. As such, we primarily tested intervention feasibility and the study methodology in preparation for an adequately-powered multicenter trial of efficacy.
That said, our effect-size findings are really exciting and suggest several promising areas of mindfulness-based interventions’ impact for surgeons. In particular stress, mindfulness, working memory capacity and cognitive control (which includes attention, vigilance and ‘set shifting’, or the ability to focus in a complex environment). These findings reflect statistically significant impacts seen in other high-stress and high performance groups in these same domains. They are highly relevant areas of impact for our profession.