A Case for Mindful Patient Care

Mindfulness is an ordinary word with an oftentimes misunderstood meaning. At its core, to be mindful is to be present and to be aware of what's happening.

Today mindfulness-based programs are used for everything from stress reduction to cognitive therapy. Even healthcare providers, like Duke University through their integrative medicine program, have introduced the body-mind relationship and the concept of mindfulness to their patients.

"Mindfulness is at the core of everything we do."
- Jeffrey Brantley, MD, Duke University

Mindfulness of mind--learning to recognize skillful and unskillful states of mind and thought--therefore, can be a crucial yet easily overlooked component of compassionate patient care.

In a world and workplace that's "always on," nurses in particular are pulled in multiple directions at once yet are charged with the seemingly impossible task of being the first line of defense against everything from hospital acquired infections and other adverse events to negative patient experiences.

By practicing mindfulness during patient rounds, nurses and other frontline care providers would decrease the likelihood of missing crucial feedback or subtle cues from the patient and enhance their connection with the patient by demonstrating an attention to and awareness of the conversation at-hand. Just like you physically cannot be in two places at once, neither can your mind.

Mindfulness, however, does take practice. One cannot flip a switch and be mindful.

"If you want to understand your mind, sit down and observe it."
-Anagarika Munindra

Author and meditation expert Joseph Goldstein lays out very cleanly that vipassana (or insight meditation) is rooted in one important discourse of the Buddha: the Satipatthana Sutta. His book, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening, is a profound blend of ancient scripts and modern examples. And it's a great read! Shorter but no less impactful books like Rohan Gunatillake's Modern Mindfulness and David Levy's Mindful Tech can also be a great place to start your journey.

Healthy skepticism is okay. Do your homework. Read the studies. And when you're ready...start.