Flexibility within time management also allows physicians to adapt to the unexpected challenges that arise in clinical settings. Scheduling regular breaks throughout the day is equally important, as these moments of rest help maintain energy levels and prevent burnout during long shifts. By setting realistic daily goals, utilizing digital scheduling tools, and delegating non-clinical tasks to support staff, physicians can streamline their workflow and focus more on patient care. By adopting evidence-based stress reduction techniques and leveraging system-level support, physicians can build resilience and better navigate the challenges of medical practice. Leveraging these resources can help physicians manage stress proactively and feel supported by their organizations. Institutions should foster environments where physicians feel comfortable acknowledging burnout and seeking support.

One critical takeaway was that extreme stress has the power to diminish our sense of self and agency. During my time as the first medical director of the World Trade Center Mental Health Program at New York University, I learned a lot from my patients about mass disasters and terrorist attacks. Or, we get buried under a growing workload with little institutional support.

• We assessed the methodological quality of the included RCTs using the Cochrane risk of bias tool (Higgins 2011).
• Although CBT-based techniques may be useful in mitigating stress and promoting coping and resilience, further research to investigate the effects of SOC-strengthening interventions may be useful, since SOC has been shown to be a work-related stress-specific protective factor.
• The importance of ongoing stress management education and support cannot be overstated.

4. Risk-of-Bias Assessment

Content in the sessions includes guided mindfulness practices, weekly homework and teaching/discussion. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Life (MBCT-L; Kuyken et al., 2019) is an adaptation of the original MBCT programme which was developed for people with a history of recurrent depression at risk of depressive relapse (Segal et al., 2013). Participants randomised to WL were sent an e-mail asking them to complete Time 1 measures immediately after the end of the intervention course they selected and prior to their WL course starting.

Cognitive and Emotional Strategies for Managing Stress

Establish clear work boundaries to prevent work-related stress from encroaching upon your personal life. Connecting with others who understand your profession’s unique challenges can be incredibly helpful in managing stress effectively. Reach out to your peers within your organisation and in professional networks to share experiences, seek advice, and establish a support system. Consider incorporating mindfulness meditation, deep breathing exercises, or https://3cisd.com/how-motivational-interviewing-supports-behavior-change/ progressive muscle relaxation into your daily routine.

They concluded based on 17 RCTs that resilience training may lead to lower levels of stress, which was a secondary outcome in their review. This is more in line with our findings, although we did look at non‐mindfulness individual‐level interventions as well. They reported that the included mindfulness interventions all appeared to significantly affect overall outcomes. But one study comparing yoga to usual care did find a difference in burnout scores. In the previous version of this review, the main categorisation was in person‐ and work‐directed interventions. Potential bias might be introduced by the categorisation of interventions into focusing on stress, focusing away from stress, work‐related, and combination as variation remains within each category.

Correlations in the MBCT-L Group Between the pre‒post changes in the process variables and outcomes (stress and well-being). A power analysis including both mindfulness and self-compassion as parallel mediators showed that only the multiple mediation on wellbeing reached appropriate statistical power. The 95% bias-corrected bootstrap CI for the IEs on stress and wellbeing were below zero, suggesting a mediation effect of self-compassion on stress and wellbeing. The MBCT-L group showed significantly higher gains in self-compassion vs the WL condition, and these gains predicted the change in stress and wellbeing. Compared to ITT analyses, ESs were found to be larger for both stress and wellbeing.