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PNI Therapeutics is working to ease staff burnout
Healthcare practitioners are under pressure to perform flawlessly under challenging situations.
Staff shortages and demanding working conditions, including long hours and unmanageable workloads, are causing emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and low job satisfaction among nurses, doctors, and medical professionals. Burnout is a major risk to their health and plays a significant role in organizational turnover. It adversely affects the quality of patient care and imposes a strain on healthcare organizations due to increased absenteeism and lower productivity. Although no one solution can address the complexities of burnout, mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) "has been broadly researched and has gained traction in the psychiatric and mental health communities in recent years. The literature suggests it has the potential to reduce burnout and compassion fatigue in nurses and other healthcare providers. The use of meditation to alleviate anxiety and manage our daily pressures and demands has increased fourfold from a decade ago, with 14% of the U.S. population indicating that they've meditated in the last year. However, the desire to use meditation is more prominent than its use for several reasons. Most people need to learn how to meditate.
Meditating using VR technology is as easy as putting on a VR headset and being expertly guided through one's choice of meditations. Staff wanting to experience the peace, tranquility, and benefits of meditation will not have to spend hours learning and perfecting the meditation technique. VR isolates the user into an immersive world of three-dimensional sight and sound. It, therefore, has the unique ability to create a greater sense of immersion and elicits higher levels of presence that enhance the effectiveness of a mediated experience. A growing body of peer-reviewed studies demonstrates that VR has effectively promoted relaxation and reduced stress.
PNI Therapeutics is currently working with a large medical center to implement a VR-guided meditation practice for their nursing and clinical staff to help reduce stress and anxiety. The VR-guided meditation practice is a visible component of their employee wellness program.
If you would like to learn more about how to improve staff wellness and reduce burnout through the use of VR, please get in touch with us.