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Well-Being Committee

Home Education Residents and Fellows Well-Being Committee
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Well-being committee

Marshfield Clinic Resident Well-Being Committee (RWBC) was formed in 2004 to promote a healthy clinical learning and work environment for the residents and fellows and provide trainees with support and resources to maintain personal well-being and mental health. RWBC provides well-being training and programming, resident/fellow consultation, program leadership support, and system-level advocacy to promote individual and team wellness, healthy stress management, prevention of burnout and depression, and maintenance of joy in clinical practice. RWBC serves as a primary resource to bridge residents and fellows to a wide array of institutional well-being resources and formal treatment services. RWBC wellness programming is a significant strength of graduate medical education training at Marshfield Clinic, enhancing global support resources to maximize learning, growth, and well-being through training.

Support for your well-being through training is one example of Marshfield Clinic’s commitment to support global clinician and healthcare workforce well-being. Marshfield Clinic joined the National Academy of Medicine's Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience in December 2017 with the submission of the MCHS Commitment Statement. We view the 2018 Charter on Physician Health as a very useful guide for RWBC's work with residents and fellows and advocacy within our system to support your well-being.


Activities of RWBC

Individual and group consultation with residents, fellows and medical students

RWBC consultations are confidential and free. For questions about consultations or to arrange one, please email Alpa.Shah@SanfordHealth.org. 

 

Wellness programming

  • Annual Resident & Fellow Well-Being Retreat
  • PGY1 Resident Wellness Orientation
  • PGY1 Health and Wellness Assessment
  • Annual Health and Wellness Assessment – all residents and fellows
  • PGY1 semi-annual, individual Wellness Checks
  • Resident wellness Quality Improvement Projects
  • Self-Assessment Wellness Tools
  • Recognize, Respond, Refer Suicide Risk Reduction Training 
  • Crisis resource information
  • Bridging to Behavioral Health services
  • Facilitated discussions on well-being and mental health topics:
    • Identification and Management of Burnout
    • Strategies to Enhance Resilience During Training
    • Imposter Syndrome
    • Cultivating Mindfulness
    • Asking for and Receiving Feedback Effectively
    • Cultivating a Growth Mindset in Medical Training
    • Mental Health Awareness, Management, and Resource Access During Training

Wellness retreats 

RWBC annually sponsors a day-long off-site wellness retreat for all residents and fellows. Please check here for agendas, photos and videos for retreats since 2013. 

 

Advocacy

DOE leadership and residency/fellowship program collaboration:

The Director of Graduate Medical Education (GME) Wellness meets monthly with the DIO to discuss well-being issues in the clinical learning environment.

The Director of Graduate Medical Education (GME) Wellness meets monthly with residency/fellowship training directors and program coordinators to provide education on well-being topics and well-being resources, hear concerns, and identify solutions. 

RWBC Resident Representatives are important members of RWBC and serve as a critical source of ideas, feedback, and advocacy to enhance well-being efforts during training.

Physician and Allied Health committee (PHC) collaboration:

The Director of Graduate Medical Education (GME) Wellness serves as a committee member on PHC and meets bimonthly with the PHC Chairperson to promote a positive work culture.

Collaborative efforts focus on identifying system challenges that negatively impact physician and resident/fellow well-being, promoting solutions to improve global well-being of medical teams, and enhancing wellness in the learning and work environment.

Faculty development collaboration:

The Director of Graduate Medical Education (GME) Wellness and Faculty Development Lead collaborate to enhance faculty and resident well-being, a positive work culture, and a learning environment that maximizes the contributions and potential for all participants.

Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC):

The Director of GME Wellness is a full member of GMEC, attends quarterly GMEC meetings, and presents an annual RWBC report to GMEC that highlights well-being information and initiatives.

Contact us

Request a consult

We welcome your contact via personal email,  Microsoft Teams messaging or paging to any one of the RWBC members/consultants or via the Resident Well Being Committee email address under Groups. You are also welcome to approach us whenever you see us in the medical complex or to call or send us a note.

RWBC began providing consultations in 2005 and meets with approximately 20 medical students, residents, and fellows per year for consults. Recognition of the benefit of the meetings has led to over half of the consults being from residents who self-referred. Concerns have addressed a variety of topics including personal, interpersonal, performance, harassment, professionalism and career planning. Our goal is to respond to your request within 24 hours and offer a meeting within 48 hours. If your concern is related to severe depression or suicidal thinking please see the Behavioral Health Services section of the RWBC website for immediate options and support.


What to expect in a consult

Once you contact us and agree to the consultation, we will arrange a meeting with you. Typically consults include two members of RWBC meeting with you in person or through a virtual platform. Meetings typically occur during scheduled breaks in the workday or after 5 p.m. to reduce disruptions to your day.

The initial consult is a time for you to share your concerns, for us to listen and offer feedback on your concerns. We may provide specific recommendations on how to handle the concerns, recommend resources to you for addressing the concerns, request that you meet with us a second time to continue to address your concerns or offer to facilitate referral to mental health providers who work with medical students, residents, and fellows with similar concerns.

Addressing common concerns

Here are common hesitations and information to dispel these fears: 

Confidentiality (“My PD will find out”): RWBC contacts are not shared with any DOE staff except in the case of impairment/improper behavior that could affect patient care, concerns for your safety or issues with potential legal ramifications.  Consults are not used in any evaluative process process as part of performance evaluation. No electronic record is generated from the consult.

Stigma (“They'll think I'm weak or a whiner"): Contact with RWBC is a sign of your effort to address concerns in a proactive manner, similar to what we hope our patients will do in their health care. Stress in training is a normative experience and accepting support and consultation is a healthy response to that experience. DOE created the RWBC to serve trainees for exactly this reason and Program Directors encourage medical students, residents, and fellows to use RWBC with this in mind.

Reprisal (“People will get upset if I take the time to do this”): RWBC accommodates your training schedule to minimize impact on others  to complete the consult. All Program Directors are supportive  of trainees taking the time to meet with RWBC.