Arkansas State University College of Nursing and Health Professions School of Nursing   Feasibility Study & Projec

Arkansas State University

College of Nursing and Health Professions

School of Nursing

Feasibility Study & Project Proposal

Students are expected to complete a needs assessment and determine if the project is doable (feasible) at their project site. This document will assist the student in determining what process problems or policy issues need to be addressed at the project site (not global) and can be improved through quality improvement implementation. 

Components

Responses

NURS 8123 LEADERSHIP

PROJECT PROPOSAL

Project Committee:

1.      Principal Investigator (student name):

2.      Practice Partner Name and Degree:

3.      Project Site (review approved states for the program Program Map:

St. Mary’s Medical Center, Little Rock, Arkansas

Needs Assessment

(REVIEW VIDEOS ON THIS TOPIC): Discuss how you obtained information, who you interviewed, what resources, and data supported the need. Provide facts or data based on needs assessment

Needs evaluation was conducted in the St. Mary’s Medical Center and it aimed at determining the feasibility of the implementation of a mindfulness-based intervention as one of the sources of nurse burnout alleviation. Informal interviews with the nurse manager and ten registered nurses were made in the collection of data. Annual employee engagement survey conducted in the hospital (2024) demonstrated that self-reported traits of burnout symptoms were evaluated to increase by 35 percent and job satisfaction scores decline in 2024 relative to 2022.

According to national statistics released by the American Nurses Foundation (2023), the higher part of the population, or more than 60 percent reported burnout symptoms, which is consistent with local trends. The assessment was supported by the evaluation of the de-identified reports concerning the data related to employee turnover and absenteeism as well, which made it clear that the nurse turnover grew by 12% in the previous year. The results suggest that there is a direct relationship and direct impact of burnout on retention, morale, and patient care quality. Organizational leaders provided a high level of support to the interventions that promote the well-being of the personnel. The project is implementable, because the management of this facility will provide such activities to the nurses and will have space and resources to introduce the mindfulness training programs.

Identified Problem and

Problem Statement/Must include aim of project:

 The identified issue is the rising percentage of nurse burnout among the personnel in the medical-surgical unit. Burnout is the cause of the insufficient productivity, the high rate of absenteeism, and the absence of high-quality care of the patient.

Problem Statement: The number of burnouts in the St. Mary’s Medical Center among the nurses is also high and the staff morale and patient outcome is being affected. The logic of this project is that systematic mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program will reduce the response of job burnout among the nurses and improve job satisfaction in a 12-week course.

Project Category

Which of these categories best describes your project?

☐ EBP Projects: ** EBP projects involve using research and evidence to guide practice changes. Practices are outdated or nonexistent. Example: Medication Reconciliation or Fall Prevention protocols. Advancing the Nursing Profession: Creating professional development assessment tools.

☐ Program Development: Focuses on creating structured initiatives to support and implement EBP at a larger scale. These projects often involve mentorship, training, and use resource allocation to implement EBP into a larger organization (AI, 2025). Example: Malignant hyperthermia preparedness program, creating apps, curriculum development, community health initiatives

ü ☐ Needs Assessment/QI: The goal is to evaluate the current or baseline level of performance at the project site and implement and evaluate quality improvement initiatives. Need is based on evidence such as data.  Examples include reducing medical errors, hospital-acquired infections, patient flow, and equity in care.

☐ Policy Project: ** Checking this box states that your project site (facility) uses formal policies for practice or process. You are stating that 1. Creating an actual formal policy or editing an existing policy based on evidence-based practice, or current standards 2. Obtaining approval from the administration for the new change, 3. Implementing part of or the whole policy, 4. Measuring outcome(s). You are using the QI method to develop and implement your project. If you are not doing this, then review other options.

 ** Please note: Due to the complexity of IRB, you will not have direct contact with patients or students.

Setting: Specifically, where is the Project Site? Hospital? Clinic?

Government? 

 This project will take place at St. Mary’s Medical Center, a 200-bed acute care hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas, specifically within the medical-surgical unit.

What is the gap between practice as it is and EBP?

The organization lacks a well-structured wellness or mindfulness program among nursing staffs at present. The literature review shows that mindfulness interventions were used to reduce occupational stress and burnout. The gap in the practice is between the existing reactive management of stresses at the hospital and the suggested preventive mindfulness solutions with evidence-based practice.

How does the project impact the problem?

 This project aims the improvement in the well-being of nurses, the reduction in the rate of burnout, and the reduction in the turnover intention. The patient care outcomes are also likely to improve with the increasing rates of staff satisfaction, as well as the working environment will become healthier. On the condition that the project will be successful, it could serve as the prototype of the mindfulness-based wellness intervention adoption across the whole hospital.

EBP Intervention; Based on gold standards, supported by research. Intervention must be supported by literature review. Include minimum of 5 references for this section.

 The intervention is to be in a form of a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program in 12 weeks. The sessions will be 60 minutes long, and they will be over on a weekly basis, with a trained nurse educator. Each session will involve a guided meditation, breathing exercises and mindfulness reflection exercises.

The MBSR programs are also known to be effective in a healthcare environment. It has been discovered that stress, emotional burnout and exhaustion reduced significantly into mindfulness students or among nursing professionals who went through mindfulness training. The intervention is consistent with the mission of the hospital that strives to guarantee the well-being and retention of employees and improve the quality of care.

Simple Title of Project (Title should be same on feasibility document, DNP Project paper, site permission letter, and IRB)

Reducing Nurse Burnout through Mindfulness Training in a Hospital Setting

PICO Statement

P: registered nurses in the medical-surgery unit of St. Mary medical center.

I: Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program.

C: Mainstream stress management system or no mindfulness training.

O: Decreased levels of burnout and increased job satisfaction.

T: 12 weeks

Instrument (s) to measure outcomes

The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) will be utilized in the evaluation of the burnout rates pre- and after the intervention. A secondary measure to be administered will be the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) to determine the gained or lost levels of the participants.

Site Permission and Practice Partner Agreement

 Submitted to Workroom: ⃝ Not submitted (please contact the project chair and the Director): ⃝

Project Proposal Decision:

Draft Accepted ⃝ Revisement Necessary: ⃝ Comment for Revisement:

Final Version Graded Assignment: Approved ⃝ Revisement

Necessary: ⃝

Comment for Revisement: 

References

American Nurses Foundation. (2023). Pulse survey: Nurse mental health and burnout. American Nurses Association. 

Gómez, P., El-Ghoroury, N. H., & Medrano, L. A. (2022). Mindfulness and burnout prevention in nursing: A meta-analysis. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 78(6), 1823–1834. 

Lee, J., Park, S., & Kim, H. (2023). Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on burnout and resilience among clinical nurses: A randomized controlled trial. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(3), 2305. Luken, M., & Sammons, A. (2021). Systematic review of mindfulness practice for reducing job burnout. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 75(2), 7502205050p1–7502205050p9. 

West, C. P., Dyrbye, L. N., & Shanafelt, T. D. (2020). Physician burnout: Contributors, consequences, and solutions. Journal of Internal Medicine, 288(6), 605–619. https://doi.org/10.1111/joim.13185