Purpose: A national study explored the impact of a wellness curriculum for residents.
Background: The CREOG/APGO Physician Wellness Taskforce developed a national curriculum for physician wellness for obstetrics and gynecology residents. A multi-institutional study explored the impact of this curriculum on professional fulfillment and burnout of residents across the United States.
Methods: Twenty-five residency programs from all CREOG regions participated in the study. Residents in these programs participated in 6 interactive workshops on physician wellness over 1 year. Before and after the curriculum, residents completed the Professional Fulfillment Index (PFI) a 16-item survey tool measuring professional fulfillment (PF), and burnout composite (BC) (measures of work exhaustion and disengagement). T-tests analyzed changes in scores, comparing groups with higher attendance and lower attendance at the wellness curriculum sessions.
Results: Among 592 participating residents, 424(72%) completed the pretest and 385(65%) the posttest. Residents participated in 3.96 sessions on average. Overall,PF increased slightly with 23.8% meeting the threshold for robust PF pretest to 25.2% meeting the same thre posttest. BC scores improved slightly with 46.8% meeting criteria for burnout pretest to 43.9% posttest. The 246 residents attending 4-6 sessions in the wellness curriculum (High Attendance) had improved scores compared to the 139 residents attending 0-3 (Low Attendance): PF-high attendance (28.05%) vs. PF-Low Attendance (20.14%), p< .001, and BC-High Attendance (39.8%) vs. BC-Low Attendance (51.1%), p=0.03.
Discussions: A longitudinal wellness curriculum is feasible within an OBGYN residency training program. While burnout has been shown to increase throughout the academic year, this may be mitigated by participation in the curriculum, with residents who were more engaged demonstrating greater improvement in professional fulfillment and less burnout over 1 year.
Topics: CREOG & APGO Annual Meeting, 2020, Faculty, Residency Director, Residency Coordinator, Professionalism, GME, CREOG & APGO Annual Meeting, 2020, Student, Resident, Faculty, Clerkship Director, Clerkship Coordinator, Osteopathic Faculty, Residency Director, Residency Coordinator, Medical Knowledge, GME, Lecture, Independent Study, General Ob-Gyn,
Bri Tristan, MD, MS; Dell Medical School; Erica Mahany, MD; Carrie Racsumberger, MS; Margaret Dow, MD; Darya Valantsevich; Abigail Winkel, MD, MHPE
