“Look at the person to your left. Now look at the person to your right. At
the end of this year only one of you will be here.”
Dr. Steve Shama, a guest
presenter at a recent Grand Rounds recalled an attending who paraphrased this
line from the movie Paper Chase, to a group of new PGY1s. However, the attending
then stated “Look at the resident to your left and the resident to your right. I
will do everything in my power to help each of you be here at the end of the
year.” The message? You are valued here and I will do everything I can to help
you be successful.
The activities of the Resident Well Being Committee are one of the Division
of Education’s ways of sharing this message with you. You are valued here. Your
success is important to us. A recent in house study on stress/burnout by the
RWBC compared new residents to those with one or more years of training. New
residents reported significantly less emotional exhaustion than residents
farther into their training. The likely conclusion: stress awaits you.
Recent RWBC activities to support residents in managing stress and being
successful have included: sponsoring a half day retreat- a first for DOE- from
which we have received much helpful input to develop future programs; completing
an assessment of stress/burnout among residents from which we have obtained
cross-sectional data as noted above and will follow-up longitudinally to monitor
stress indices over the course of training; production and distribution of a DVD
to PGY1s regarding common stresses of first year and recommendations on how to
manage them- all from interviews with residents who recently completed their
first year; and, meeting with new residents to promote discussion of stresses
and to give the message that acknowledging stress, engaging in self-care and
providing mutual support are healthy activities and not signs of weakness.
The RWBC is here to support your success. Please contact us (via email) for a confidential consultation or to suggest ways we
can support your success in residency. To close, try this very short self-care
activity. Take a deep breath. Hold it to the count of three. Very slowly exhale
and at the same time tell yourself “There is support to manage the stresses.” Be
well.
Jerry Goldberg, M.D. Mike Schulein, Ph.D. Vicki Viegut, M.D. K.J. Williams,
M.D.
