The Impact of Mindfulness on Stress and Burnout of New Graduate Nurses as a Component of a Nurse Residency Program.

Objective: This evidence-based practice project assessed the impact of integrating mindfulness training into an existing nurse residency program.

Background: Stress and burnout are endemic in healthcare. The transition to practice is associated with stress and anxiety for newly graduated nurses. Evidence supports mindfulness-based interventions to mitigate stress and burnout and improve the workplace environment and patient outcomes.

Methods: This project employed a pre/post design to measure burnout, stress, and mindfulness, comparing means and standard deviations between intervention and comparison nurse residency cohorts. Mindfulness training was integrated at 4 points within the 1st 6 months of the residency program.

Results: The intervention cohort reported significantly less burnout and stress and more mindfulness at 6 months than the comparison group.

Conclusions: Mindfulness training can be feasibly integrated into an existing nurse residency program to decrease stress and burnout for new graduate nurses during the transition to practice.