Mindfulness is vital for healthcare staff: improving the wellbeing and compassion of healthcare staff
Healthcare staff, mainly medical students and doctors in Swansea Bay University Health Board/ Swansea medical school have benefited from Enhanced Stress Resilience Training (ESRT) starting with a wellbeing and mindfulness day in 2018 and developing into programme of provision which also includes the Mindful Self Care Program (MSCP).
Students reported improvements to their stress management, which centred around a change in their relationship to stress. One student said, “I learnt a lot about myself and how best to deal with stress. I feel more able to deal with stress and be in touch with my emotions.” Some described a “mental frame shift”, while others reported a better “understanding” of stress. This ability to recognise stress allowed them to deal with it “before it becomes overwhelming”. Beyond learning to better identify their stress, students reported an ability to “step away from it” or, “put the stress more in proportion … with a more realistic view.”
Other students reported an increased sense of presence during their clinical skills practice, tutorials and clinics. The full evaluation report can be found here.
Dr Umakant Dave set out on this journey in response to his own burnout/stress in 2013. He found the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) so helpful he went on to develop his own practice and train to teach with Bangor University.
The first mindfulness/ wellbeing day for medical staff and students was conducted in 2018. From that start there have been introduction to mindfulness sessions for junior doctors, dentists, new consultants, NHS managers, British Society of Gastroenterology, Association of Anaesthetists of GB & Ireland, HEIW and the Lebanese mindfulness society. Umakanthas taught ESRT (Enhanced Stress Resilience Training) which is adapted from MBCT to medical students and surgical trainees in Wales. He has also conducted resilience workshop for doctors and organised MSCP (Mindful Self Care Program) training for gastroenterology and endoscopy staff in Swansea. Umakanthas also been working with Dr Carter Lebares in UCSF, California, USA.
It’s great to see developments in Wales influencing and learning from work across the world as well as local developments.
Hopes for the future include making ESRT and MSCP widely available for healthcare staff and incorporate ESRT into the medical curriculum.
For more information contact: umakant.dave@wales.nhs.uk