Systems and Research in Well-Being-Episode 5--Factors Affecting Burnout and Depression Among Residents-Part 2

In this episode of the AWARE Podcast’s Cognition and Well-Being series, Stuart Slavin, MD, MEd and Anne Gravel Sullivan, PhD discuss the relationship between belonging and well-being with Dr. Mukta Panda, MD, MACP, FRCP-London. Dr. Panda, who is the Assistant Dean for Well-Being and Medical Student Education, as well as a Professor of Medicine at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine at Chattanooga, reflects upon her own struggle with well-being and how it ultimately led her to study the importance of a personal sense of belonging. Additionally, they analyze how well-being can be achieved when students and physicians can comfortably be their authentic selves, rather than attempting to fit into the molds that they feel pressured into being.

In this new episode of the Aware Well-Being Podcast Systems and Research series, Lyuba Konopasek, MD, Senior Associate Dean for Education at the Frank Netter School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University, discusses her efforts to develop a comprehensive approach to addressing issues that impact resident and faculty well-being. As the former DIO at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Dr. Konopasek drew on business literature, as well as her lived experiences in the GME community, to construct her “Recognize, Respond and Refer” model for mitigating and responding to burnout, anxiety and other forms of distress among clinicians.

This month Dr. Stuart Slavin, ACGME Senior Scholar for Well-Being, joins pediatric hospitalist Dr. Anu Gorukanti and neurologist Dr. Jeffrey Dewey, who launched their careers as specialists during the pandemic, for this AWARE episode on the common challenges presented in the transition from residency to fellowship or practice. Together they explore what impact these challenges have on graduates, how the pandemic has amplified them, and share their personal stories and insights on how residents and fellows can prepare for these challenges.

Pathologist Suzanne Powell and Neurologist Crystal Yeo share the results of their study of burnout, resilience and well-being with residents at Houston Methodist Hospital upon the advent of Hurricane Harvey. We discuss their results, which show the surprising impact that volunteerism can have on clinician well-being.

Dr. Stuart Slavin, ACGME Senior Scholar for Well-being, talks with a group of residents about how COVID-19 has impacted their well-being during training. They discuss how the practices of Psychological First Aid, an approach developed by a group of international non-profits to train people to help others experiencing trauma, has the potential to equip residents with strategies for managing the many challenges faced by their community members in crisis. Pediatric hospitalist Anu Gorukanti, a recent graduate of Santa Clara Valley Medical Center; Clare Brady, a second-year family medicine resident at Northwestern in Chicago, and Shivani Parikh, a third-year OB/Gyn resident at TriHealth in Chicago join us for this conversation. 

In this episode, Stuart Slavin, MD, MEd, ACGME's Senior Scholar for Well-Being, discusses the role of Psychological First Aid (PFA) in providing support for individuals who have suffered some kind of trauma or other devastating event. We discuss the relevance of the approach to supporting to clinicians, patients and others managing the stressors of the pandemic, as well as the specific strategies used in PFA, which was collaboratively developed by a coalition of international military and non-governmental organizations as a response to victims of war, natural disasters and other traumatic events.

Dr. Stuart Slavin, ACGME Senior Scholar for Well-Being, returns to discuss how the transition from medical school to residency and from residency/fellowship to practice--already a vulnerable time for physicians--has been impacted by COVID-19. Using William Bridges' tripartite model of transitions as a framework, Dr. Gravel Sullivan and Dr. Slavin explore the implications of the many changes brought about by the pandemic on well-being--particularly for physicians undergoing transitions. They discuss measures individuals and programs can take to mitigate the negative effects of the pandemic on the well-being of incoming and graduating residents.

With the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, physicians and other clinicians are suddenly having to process vast amounts of new information on how to manage patient care as well as safely protect themselves. In the midst of the pandemic, attending to their own mental health and well-being is vital--but wading through yet an additional set of resources may seem overwhelming.

In this 30-minute podcast, we interview Stuart Slavin, MD, ACGME’s Senior Scholar for Well-being, who provides a synthesis and distillation of well-being strategies for residents and other clinicians specific to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Dr Slavin has pulled from resources including psychology and psychiatry, peer support programming, the military and VA system, and literature for support of first responders to mass casualty events.