mindfulness for clinicians
The aim of this course is to improve the quality of patient care though mindful relating.
Mindfulness enhances the quality of the practitioner-patient relationship by refining the nature of the present-moment attention that clinicians are able to bring to the encounter with their patients or clients. It is the awareness that emerges through paying attention to the present moment with curiosity, openness and acceptance. When the clinician is able to bring his or her whole self to the engagement with their patients, being fully present, in the moment, with and for them the clinical encounter is powerfully transformed.
The practice and application of mindfulness enhances relationship-centred care through the cultivation of a calm, alert presence, empathy, deep listening and a refined capacity to respond sensitively and compassionately to another. Mindfulness also sharpens the practitioner’s clinical skills - attending to the patient with greater clarity and objectivity may at times lead to different care decisions.
Course content includes:
- What is mindfulness and how can it affect the quality of the relationship between you and your patient?
- The evidence base for the effects of mindful attention in the caring professions
- Relationship-centred care principles
- Understanding presence – the capacity to be fully present with your patients, even in the midst of a demanding day
- Taking care of yourself as you take care of your patients – attending to the intrapersonal and interpersonal
- Practices to cultivate mindful presence – formal and informal
- Attitudes that support presence
- Mindful Listening and the consequences – an experiential exercise
- Working with difficult patients
- “Being with” patients suffering physical or psychological pain
- Exploring routes to further develop mindfulness
