Case Report: The Gold Standard: The Case for Inclusion of a Medical Student-Specific Counseling Center and Wellness Programming in Early Medical Education.

Medical student's mental health and wellness is a multifactorial discussion that requires a multidimensional and comprehensive approach. The high prevalence of burnout and its recent recognition by the World Health Organization as a work-related syndrome has scholars questioning if experiences in early medical education have an impact. The Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine at Florida International University in 2009 created an in-house counseling and wellness center. In assessing programming and services, approximately 55% of the medical student body has sought out individualized services from the Medical Student Counseling and Wellness Center. Moreover, the Association of American Medical Colleges Graduate Questionnaire results regarding the satisfaction of students in personal counseling, mental health services, and wellness programming have been 20% or higher than the national average. This is a call to action highly encouraging other medical schools to emulate and consider implementing a detailed and comprehensive program to be offered early in medical education.

First Year Burnout and Coping in One US Medical School.

OBJECTIVE: Physician burnout is increasingly recognized as important for patient safety and physician wellness. Though several studies have examined burnout among medical students, few studies have examined the relationships between coping strategies and burnout. We hoped to preliminarily examine these relationships among first year medical students. METHODS: This cross-sectional study administered to first year medical students uses validated psychologic assessment tools including the COPE inventory and the MIB-HS inventory to assess correlations between the results. Standard correlational statistic methods were used to analyze the data in reaching our conclusions. RESULTS: A total of 167 students participated, including 53% females. The adaptive coping strategy of planning was significantly associated with decreased levels of emotional exhaustion and a preserved sense of personal accomplishment on the burnout assessment survey. Additionally, the adaptive coping strategy of positive reinterpretation/growth was also significantly associated with preservation of the sense of personal accomplishment. CONCLUSION: These results highlight the benefit of using adaptive coping strategies to prevent burnout. These data emphasize the importance of providing students programming during early medical training that encourages students to develop and enhance these strategies to promote wellness while in training and beyond.