NCT03148626

Does a Mindfulness Curriculum Prevent Physician Burnout During Pediatric Internship?

Completed NA Last updated 30 January 2019

What this trial tests

NA trial testing MINDI mindfulness curriculum in Burnout, Professional in 358 participants. Completed in 28 January 2019.

Timeline

13 June 2017

Primary endpoint
28 January 2019

28 January 2019

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	Boston Medical Center
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	none
Primary purpose	prevention
Enrollment	358
Start date	13 June 2017
Primary completion	28 January 2019
Estimated completion	28 January 2019
Sites	1 location across United States

Drugs / interventions tested

• MINDI mindfulness curriculum
• Control

Conditions studied

• Burnout, Professional — all drugs for Burnout, Professional →

Sponsor

Boston Medical Center

Who can join

Eligibility, any sex, with Burnout, Professional. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

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.

Publications & conference data

2 peer-reviewed publications reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

1. Mindfulness-based psychological interventions for improving mental well-being in medical students and junior doctors.
   Sekhar P, Tee QX, Ashraf G, Trinh D, et al · · 2021 · cited 23× · PMID 34890044 · DOI 10.1002/14651858.cd013740.pub2
2. Effect of a Novel Mindfulness Curriculum on Burnout During Pediatric Internship: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.
   Fraiman YS, Cheston CC, Cabral HJ, Allen C, et al · · 2022 · cited 21× · PMID 35072694 · DOI 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.5740