A National Curriculum to Address Professional Fulfillment and Burnout in OB-GYN Residents.

BACKGROUND: Physician well-being is a priority in graduate medical education as residents suffer high rates of burnout. With complex stressors affecting the clinical environment, conflicting evidence exists as to whether a formal curriculum improves resident well-being. OBJECTIVE: We assessed the feasibility and impact of a national pilot of a yearlong wellness curriculum for obstetrics and gynecology (OB-GYN) residents. METHODS: The Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology Wellness Task Force developed a national multicenter pilot group of 25 OB-GYN programs to participate in a prospective cohort study. The curriculum included 6 interactive wellness workshops using uniform teaching materials delivered during didactic time. Prior to and following their participation in the curriculum, residents completed a survey containing demographic information and the Professional Fulfillment Index. RESULTS: Among 592 eligible participants, 429 (72%) responded to the pretest and 387 (65%) to the posttest. Average age of respondents was 29.1 years (range = 24-52 years) and included 350 (82%) women and 79 (18%) men. At baseline, 254 of 540 (47%) respondents met criteria for burnout, and 101 (23%) met criteria for robust professional fulfillment. Residents participated in an average of 3.9 workshops. While aggregate posttest scores did not differ from baseline, residents attending 4 to 6 workshops had improved rates of burnout (40% vs 50%, P = .017) and robust professional fulfillment (28% vs 20%, P < .001) compared with those with lower attendance. CONCLUSIONS: A wellness curriculum was a feasible addition to OB-GYN residency program curricula in programs across the country. Residents with higher attendance experienced improved professional fulfillment and less burnout.

Resident Responses to a Wellness Survey and Significant Unreported Distress.

Resident well-being is a significant issue affecting our future physicians' abilities to fulfill their potential in training and practice. In the 2017 Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology National Wellness Survey, residents identified many challenges to wellness and had the opportunity to provide free-text responses about these issues. Secondary analysis of these responses revealed clusters of symptoms associated with mood disorders, including high rates of reported anxiety and depression symptoms, and even suicidality. The prevalence of these self-reported symptoms underscores the importance of targeting wellness programming efforts, improving health care work environments, advancing access to care, and destigmatizing mental health concerns for our learners.