The Development of a Physician Vitality Program: A Brief Report

Abstract

We describe the development of an innovative program to support physician vitality. We provide the context and process of program delivery which includes a number of experimental support programs. We discuss a model for intervention and methods used to enhance physician resilience, support work-life balance, and change the culture to one that explicitly addresses the physician's biopsychosocial-spiritual needs. Recommendations are given for marriage and family therapists (MFTs) who wish to develop similar support programs for healthcare providers. Video Abstract.

Medical Family Therapists in Action: Embracing Multiple Roles

“…They identified three practice themes such as, “treatment is about caring, not just care giving,” (p. 188), named several core techniques like, “reflective practitioner” (p.188), and identified a continued need for literature to address specific roles and tasks of MFT/MedFTs. Most recently, Hernandez and Thomas () describe an innovative role for MFTs to support physician vitality at a hospital setting through providing services such as one‐on‐one consultations, experiential group debriefing, and participating in patient rounds.…”

A Time to Reflect on JMFT

“…As clients participate in shaping the treatment they receive, the more traditional hierarchies flatten and the more clients become partners in the change process. Similarly (although not mentioned in my 2012 editorial), while we have published some articles on medical family therapy (e.g., Falke & D'Arrigo‐Patrick, ; Hernandez & Thomas, ) and cost‐effectiveness research (e.g., Crane et al., ), we need more on these important topics.…”

On Maps, Shapeshifting, and My Syllabus: Family Therapies Today

“…One way I suppose I could update my syllabus is to organize it not just in terms of theory, but by the increasing literature on family therapies for specific presenting problems such as interpersonal violence (Oka, Sandberg, Bradford, & Brown, ; Schneider & Brimhall, ), homelessness (Harris‐McKoy, Woods, Brantley, & Farineau, ), childhood mood disorders (MacPherson, Leffler, & Fristad, ), cyber issues (Blumer, Hertlein, Allen, & Smith, ) or on specific populations such as male adolescents who sexually offend (Keiley, Zaremba‐Morgan, Datubo‐Brown, Pyle, & Cox, ). Context is another possible organizing principle that includes international and cross‐cultural initiatives (Parra‐Cardona, Aguilar, Wieling, Domenech Rodríguez, & Fitzgerald, ; Seponski, Bermudez, & Lewis, ), medical family therapy (Falke & D'Arrigo‐Patrick, ; Hernandez & Thomas, ), and issues of acculturation (Maciel & Knudson‐Martin, ).…”