Nursing professionals face enormous challenges. The work is difficult and demands full presence, energy, and commitment. Stress is a pervasive fact of the profession, and it affects institutions and individuals, and even the caring relationship itself. Stress can impair the health care provider’s ability to observe, to listen, and to understand the patient. To practice safely, healthfully, and with compassion, nurses need to effectively manage stress. Taken to an extreme, when acute stress becomes chronic, impairments can be seen in immune system and cognitive functioning. One research group rang a note of caution that “unfortunately, breakdowns in attention raise the risk of serious consequences such as symptom recognition, medication errors, and patient safety issues” (Pipe et al. 2009).
Mindfulness is a proven strategy that can help nurses to cope with the demands of their work and their lives (Baer 2003; Carmody et al., 2009; Grossman, 2004; Ludwig & Kabat-Zinn, 2008). Of the hundreds of clinical studies conducted on mindfulness-based interventions, 75% of them have been conducted in the past five years pointing to the mindfulness revolution sweeping health care.
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