Contemplative medicine: A practical approach to "Well-Being 2.0" in medicine

Objective: To examine the relationship between Contemplative Medicine training and clinician burnout. Methods: Clinicians underwent a 12 month training program in Contemplative Medicine, which addresses several of the "Well-being 2.0" framework elements. An uncontrolled pre and post test study design was used with the validated Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) as the study tool to evaluate efficacy of the program. Results: Participants demonstrated improvement in burnout levels after the intervention. There were significant differences at the 0.05 significance level or better on all three scales of the MBI instrument when comparing baseline to follow-up responses, including emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and sense of personal accomplishment. Particular improvement was noted in the "personal accomplishment" domain, with p < 0.01 when comparing baseline and follow-up responses. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that Contemplative Medicine training is a viable approach for improving clinician burnout and concretely implementing the "Well-being 2.0" framework.