Resident-Led Wellness Program
Abstract
Learning Objectives: 1) Anonymously survey residents to obtain rates of burnout and identify gaps in resident wellness. 2) Create a resident-led, self-sustaining wellness committee 3) Integrate wellness education into a formal grand rounds curriculum 4)Reduce self-reported resident burnout rates.
Introduction/Background: Residents suffer from numerous stressors that lead to poor mental health and significant rates of burnout. The Madigan Army Medical Center Emergency Medicine (EM) residency program had aspects of wellness built into its program but lacked a formal wellness curriculum or internal evaluation system.
Curricular Design: To address the lack of formal wellness resources, anonymous surveys were sent to residents, a formal wellness curriculum developed, and a resident-led wellness committee was formed. Following an introductory wellness lecture, residents were anonymously surveyed to assess knowledge of local wellness resources, rates of burnout, and gaps in resident wellness. This survey will be administered biannually, at the beginning and middle of each academic year. A resident-led wellness committee was formed with the goals of serving as a monitoring group for resident mental health and wellness, serving as a think tank to address identified mental health and wellness gaps, and creating and planning wellness interventions. A wellness curriculum was added into the current grand rounds curriculum, covering burnout, mindfulness, financial planning, professionalism, peer support, local behavioral health resources, sleep hygiene, and faculty experiences on work-life balancing.
Impact/Effectiveness: This innovation will provide an anonymous before and after evaluation of a multi-faceted approach to resident wellness in an EM residency program. Formal reevaluation of resident wellness and burnout rates are pending repeated surveying. The initial survey generated multiple initiatives, which the wellness committee has already addressed such as EM food pantry creation and shift schedule alterations. Anecdotally, residents have responded very positively to these interventions and the renewed focus on resident wellness. Program leadership is supportive of this program and plans are in place to sustain this initiative for the foreseeable future.