81 Emergency Medicine Resident Perceptions About a National Multi-Faceted Wellness Curriculum

Abstract

Study Objective: In order to address the increasing prevalence of burnout amongst emergency medicine residents and meet the ACGME Common Program Requirement concerning resident well-being, the authors created and introduced a multi-faceted year-long wellness curriculum “Choose Wellness Emergency Medicine” at 5 emergency medicine residencies nationally. “Choose Wellness Emergency Medicine” included bi-monthly structured didactic presentations, corresponding non-didactic elements, individualized interactive instruction (III) assignments, and additional Internet-based resources. At the conclusion of the year-long wellness curriculum, we performed a post-intervention survey to determine resident perceptions of the curriculum, valued elements, and additional wellness resources utilized. In February 2018, we performed a multi-center survey study at the 5 emergency medicine residencies who had participated in “Choose Wellness Emergency Medicine.” Survey questions included “Did you find the wellness curriculum offered by your program this year to be beneficial to your overall feelings of wellness?”; “What were the most useful aspect of the curriculum for you?”; and “Besides resources offered by your residency program, what other resources did you access over this year with the goal of improving your wellness?” A total of 93/174 residents completed the survey leading to a 53.4% response rate. Of respondents, 45.2% found the wellness curriculum to be moderately beneficial to their overall feelings of wellness, 8.6% responded it was highly beneficial, 35.5% neutral, and 9.7% not beneficial. The most useful self-reported aspects of the curriculum were dedicated time for resident bonding (59 responses), dedicated time for residency wellness activities (45), and a wellness retreat (38). III (5), designating wellness champions (3), and assigned readings about wellness (2) were not as valued. Routinely accessed external resources included setting personal fitness goals (70), regular participation in a hobby (49), and yoga (26). Fewer residents participated in volunteer activities (11), meditation (9), counseling (8), and external wellness retreats (8). Our survey study demonstrated that the majority (53.8%) of emergency medicine residents found a formal national multi-faceted wellness curriculum to be at least moderately beneficial. The most valued elements were dedicating time for resident bonding and time for residency wellness activities.