Maintaining Social Support in the Era of Social Distancing: Transitioning an in-person family-oriented wellness event to a virtual venue

Abstract

Many medical residency programs have attempted to equip their trainees with tools to combat burnout using wellness curricula. One often-overlooked aspect of burnout is the support person?s lack of understanding about the stress residents face as well as what is required of them. We describe a program, known as the Family Anesthesia Experience, with a focus on the conversion of the in-person event to a virtual format and comparing learning experience in the two formats. The goals of this program are to improve residents? support persons? understanding of anesthesiology residency and combat physician burnout via a social-relatedness approach. This program was conducted in-person in 2019 and converted to a virtual format in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We collected data from both years to assess the event using different delivery formats. All responders in 2020 and most responders (83.3%) in 2019 felt the event would improve communication between residents and support persons. Thematic analysis revealed benefits and drawbacks of hosting the event virtually. The family day wellness program strengthened support networks for residents and improved support persons? understanding of and empathy for the residency experience. The program adapted well to both in-person and virtual settings.