Decreasing nurses’ stress in the emergency room utilizing mindfulness meditation

Background: Emergency Room (ER) nurses are challenged both physically and emotionally, and are repeatedly exposed to severe occupational stress (d\u27Ettorre & Greco, 2016; Duffy et al., 2015). For example, some stressors are demands from patients and physicians, long hours, complex diagnoses, and a fast pace (Hunsaker et al., 2015). A considerable number of nurses experience work-related interpersonal conflict, secondary traumatic stress, and other stress disorders, which negatively affects the quality of patient care they deliver (Westphal et al., 2015). Purpose: The purpose of this evidence-based practice project was to implement a mindfulness meditation intervention to decrease emergency room nurses’ stress. Theoretical Framework: Watson’s theory of human caring (J. Watson, 2008) was utilized as the theoretical framework for this project, focusing on the nurse’s self-care regarding stress. Methods: This project used a pre-test post-test design to evaluate the effect of an evidence-based mindfulness meditation intervention by obtaining blood pressure and pulse measures as well as the Profile of Mood States Second Edition-Short Form (POMS2-SF) questionnaire. Results: Using mindfulness meditation participants experienced a statistically significant lowering in stress levels: the mean post-POMS (M = 39.4) was statistically significantly lower (p \u3c0.001) than the mean pre-POMS (M = 47.2). The results also indicated that means of the post-systolic BP (M = 115.7) and the post-diastolic BP (M = 69.4) were statistically significantly lower (p \u3c 0.001) than the means of pre-systolic BP (M=126.7) and the pre-diastolic BP (75.6). The mean of post-intervention pulse (M = 65) was statistically significantly lower (p = 0.005) than the mean of pre-pulse (M = 68.7). Conclusions: Mindfulness meditation should be considered as a modality to reduce nurses’ stress levels in clinical settings. During the DNP project, 18 ER nurses, who are employed at the implementation site, listened to a 15-minute mindfulness meditation CD by Dr. Jean Watson. Before and after the intervention, the DNP student measured the blood pressure and heart rate and completed the POMS2-SF questionnaire to record the stress indicators of participants. Findings indicated that mindfulness meditation intervention reduced blood pressure, heart rate, and POMS2-SF stress indicators