Small Steps for a Big Change: A Longitudinal Project to Enhance Well-Being of Internal Medicine Residents

Authors

Vandana Nagpal, Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School,Follow
Benjamin Tanenbaum, Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School,Follow
Christine Runyan, Tend Healthcare LLCFollow

Funder

This work was supported by institutional funding and grants; we did not receive any specific grant from any other funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Conflict of Interest

Dr Runyan holds a faculty appointment at UMass Chan; she is also the co-founder of Tend Healthcare LLC which provides mental health support to health care providers. Tend Healthcare has been contracted by UMass Chan GME for trainee support.

Abstract

Introduction: Residency training is demanding and often leads to burnout. In 2017, Internal Medicine (IM) residents at our institution reported a poor collective residency experience. In response, we launched a longitudinal wellness program in 2018, featuring multi-pronged interventions to improve residents' well-being. The program, still active today, has undergone iterative modifications with ongoing input from residents.

Approach: The resident-led Wellness Committee was established in 2018, and the following no to low-cost initiatives were implemented sequentially: quarterly group sessions with an institutional health psychologist, bi-annual self-checks, peer buddy support for incoming first-year residents, weekly 5-minute reflection sessions, and volunteer dog visits.

Discussion: All planned activities were well-received by residents, as indicated by positive survey responses. Ninety percent of the survey respondents for the health-psychologist sessions strongly agreed or agreed that the sessions were very useful. Eighty-four percent of the responding first-year residents felt their peer buddy answered their questions, and 93% expressed interest in volunteering as a buddy in subsequent years. Additionally, 80% of survey respondents found the weekly 5-minute reflection sessions to be a positive experience. We also noticed an overall improvement in institutional annual Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) well-being survey scores from 2018 to 2023, especially in the domain of emotional exhaustion.

Conclusion: We propose a feasible, low-cost wellness toolkit that is easy to implement and sustainable. The quantitative and qualitative data demonstrate that this approach is not only acceptable but successful in engaging residents and addressing various aspects of their well-being.

DOI

10.55504/2578-9333.1255

Recommended Citation

Nagpal, Vandana; Tanenbaum, Benjamin; and Runyan, Christine (2025) "Small Steps for a Big Change: A Longitudinal Project to Enhance Well-Being of Internal Medicine Residents," Journal of Wellness: Vol. 6 : Iss. 1 , Article 1.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55504/2578-9333.1255
Available at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/jwellness/vol6/iss1/1