Development of an Emergency Medicine Wellness Curriculum

Abstract

Burnout, the triad of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and low personal accomplishment, begins early in medical education and the prevalence continues to increase over time among U.S. physicians. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) now requires that programs and sponsoring institutions have the same responsibility to address well-being as they do other aspects of resident competence. Yet, there are no studies published in the emergency medicine (EM) literature that discuss the development and institution of a formal wellness curriculum. The authors conducted a needs analysis among EM residents with the aim of creating a multifaceted 12-month wellness curriculum. The needs analysis determined that residents are not comfortable with their knowledge of wellness principles. In response, the authors developed a curriculum by integrating components of published non-EM wellness curricula and online academic wellness programs with commonly accepted domains of wellness. The curriculum was subsequently introduced at five EM residencies. This curriculum represents an example of successful multi-institution collaboration to meet an ACGME Common Program Requirement.

The Implementation of a National Multifaceted Emergency Medicine Resident Wellness Curriculum Is Not Associated With Changes in Burnout

“…A year‐long multifaceted wellness curriculum was then introduced at five intervention sites while the other five control sites agreed not to introduce new wellness initiatives during the study period. The wellness curriculum included standardized bimonthly structured didactic elements presented by the study investigator at each site, individualized interactive instruction assignments, and additional Internet‐based resources . Intervention sites delivered the didactic lectures and additional resources within a predetermined time frame so that each site completed their intervention prior to administration of the February 2018 survey.…”

“…However, methods through which programs can best monitor resident burnout and promote wellness remain unclear. In an attempt to address these issues, a consortium of content experts and graduate medical educators developed a novel and multifaceted wellness curriculum, including didactic presentations, corresponding nondidactic elements, individualized interactive instruction assignments, and additional Internet‐based resources, for use among EM resident training programs . We aimed to determine if implementation of this wellness curriculum across multiple training programs improved resident burnout.…”

Research Priorities for Physician Wellness in Academic Emergency Medicine: Consensus from the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine Wellness Committee

“…Additional considerations for the learning environment include adjusting educational strategies for generational differences and “the millennial learner,” explicitly addressing bullying and harassment and considering issues of overwork and duty hour reporting . Finally, does early training or the learning environment impact the decision of residents to pursue a career in academic EM versus a career in the community practice setting?…”

The Development and Implementation of a Longitudinal Wellness Curriculum for McGill University’s Undergraduate Medical Program

“…However, despite the adoption of the strategies outlined above, research addressing formal wellness curriculum in undergraduate medical Education remains scarce [28]. The Vanderbilt University School of Medicine's medical student wellness program was the first published model [29].…”