http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/story/index.cfm?id=3481
Training physicians in mindfulness meditation and communication skills can improve the quality of primary care for both practitioners and their patients, University of Rochester Medical Center researchers report in a studypublished online this week in the journal
Academic Medicine.
As ways to improve primary care, the researchers also recommend promoting a sense of community among physicians and providing time to physicians for personal growth.
"Programs focused on personal awareness and self-development are only part of the solution," the researchers stated. "Our health care delivery systems must implement systematic change at the practice level to create an environment that supports mindful practice, encourages transparent and clear communication among clinicians, staff, patients, and families, and reduces professional isolation."
Medical education can better support self-awareness programs for trainees while also promoting role models -- preceptors and attending physicians -- who exemplify mindful practice in action, they wrote.
