By modeling, the patient can also engage in mindful practice and both can create the possibility of new options. If we are serious that mindfulness is part of the core of clinical training of practicing health professionals, we need to find some way to assess it. Our group made some initial suggestions about the use of self-report, direct observation by preceptors, and reports from patients that may point to the presence or absence of mindful practice. As a preliminary exploration, we have adopted several levels of mindfulness. Practitioners who are not being mindful ignore the obvious, don't examine their own emotions, lack imagination and tend to be very literal and concrete.
Many learners begin by using behavioral modeling before reflecting on the meaning of their actions.
While this is an important developmental task, we feel that simple imitation is unlikely to lead to long-term change in patients or practitioners. Level 2 - Curiosity and reflection. Curiosity is a prerequisite for evidence- based medicine in order to generate and test hypotheses and to challenge and create new categories. Also, curiosity is essential to relationship-centered care in this domain. Curiosity involves a nonjudgmental examination of emotions, attitudes, and personal knowledge and results in understanding rather than rejecting bias.