Efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Training in Surgery: Additional Analysis of the Mindful Surgeon Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial

In this pilot randomized clinical trial of 21 first-year surgery residents led by PI Carter Lebares, MD,  director of the UCSF Center for Mindfulness in Surgery, taking a modified mindfulness-based stress reduction class was associated with higher mindfulness, lower stress, better executive function scores, faster motor skills, and unique activation of neural substrates associated with executive control and self-awareness during an emotional regulation task compared with control participants. Mindfulness-based stress reduction appeared to mitigate stress and enhance executive function in surgery residents, supporting the value of larger, more definitive trials of this promising intervention for surgeons.