Does a Mindfulness Curriculum Prevent Physician Burnout During Pediatric Internship?

Summary

A triad of exhaustion, depersonalization and inefficacy, physician burnout is an epidemic among trainees associated with delivering poor quality care. Training programs are desperate for evidence-based programs that can prevent burnout during residency. Mindfulness training programs can reduce burnout among primary care physicians, but have not been tested during physician training. Pilot testing of a novel mindfulness curriculum during pediatric internship was found to be feasible to implement.

The primary objective of this study is to determine if implementing a novel 6-month mindfulness curriculum comprised of seven 1-hour sessions can reduce physician burnout and increase mindfulness practice and empathy. A multicenter cluster randomized controlled trial will be conducted among interns training in programs of various sizes and regions to address this objective. The investigators hypothesize that completing a mindfulness curriculum during internship will reduce interns' levels of physician burnout and increase their mindfulness practice and empathy.

Within pairs in pediatric residency programs matched on size (a proxy for burnout), clusters of interns in each program will be randomized to experience either the mindfulness curriculum over a 6-month period (intervention) or receive the usual educational curriculum (control). During a 15-month study period, burnout, mindfulness and empathy will be assessed using validated measures at baseline, 6- and 15-month follow-up. The impact of the intervention will be determined by comparing physician burnout, empathy and mindfulness scores between interns in the intervention and control groups. This methodologically rigorous multi-center cluster RCT will determine if implementing an innovative 6-month mindfulness curriculum reduces pediatric interns' burnout and improves empathy and mindfulness practice.

Conditions

• Burnout, Professional

Interventions

OTHER

MINDI mindfulness curriculum

A seven-session mindfulness curriculum implemented over six-months during pediatric internship.

OTHER

Control

Usual Education

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Boston Children's Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland

  collaborator OTHER

• Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati

  collaborator OTHER

• Floating Hospital for Children

  collaborator OTHER

• Nationwide Children's Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• MaineHealth

  collaborator OTHER

• Saint Peters University Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• University of California, Davis

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Florida

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Massachusetts, Worcester

  collaborator OTHER

• Seattle Children's Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• Advocate Lutheran General Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Pittsburgh

  collaborator OTHER

• Loyola University Chicago

  collaborator OTHER

• Boston Medical Center

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Colin Sox, MD, MS · Boston Medical Center

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2017-06-13

Primary Completion

2019-01-28

Completion

2019-01-28

Countries

• United States

Study Locations