N. R. Rademacher1, A. A. Luman1, H. Chen2 1University Of Alabama at Birmingham, Department Of General Surgery, Birmingham, Alabama, USA 2University Of Alabama at Birmingham, University Of Alabama At Birmingham, Division Of Breast And Endocrine Surgery, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Introduction:
Resident wellness and avoiding burnout have become trending topics in recent years as more data has demonstrated that resident physicians, including surgery residents, are high risk for burnout and suicide. Numerous studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of targeted interventions aimed at reducing burnout and improving wellness amongst residents. However, the presence and extent of program offerings for wellness initiatives are variable across surgical residency institutions. This study aims to identify the presence of wellness programming, leadership roles dedicated to resident wellness, and mental health service offerings at general surgery residency programs.
Methods:
The top 50 academic institutions in NIH funding for the year of 2022 as reported by the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research were included in this study. For each program, four measures were collected and categorized as binary outcomes (presence or absence). These four measures included the following: a general surgery residency webpage that included wellness information, an identified wellness leadership position, offerings of recurring scheduled and/or required wellness sessions, and documented availability of mental health or therapy sessions supported by the department. The data for this study were abstracted from each institution’s Department of Surgery General Surgery Residency webpage. Additionally, a Google search was performed for each program with the following search term, “[program name] general surgery residency wellness” and the top ten search results were considered. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data.
Results:
Of the 50 programs investigated in this study, all programs had a dedicated general surgery residency webpage. Surprisingly, less than half (48%) of program websites included information on wellness opportunities. Dedicated wellness leadership roles or committees were found to be present at 38% of institutions. Only 26% of general surgery residency programs reported formal, scheduled wellness programming and even fewer (24%) documented availability of therapy or other professional mental health services.
Conclusion:
Wellness initiatives are an essential part of preventing resident burnout at the institutional level. However, less than half of the top-funded academic have documented such offerings on their general surgery residency websites. While it cannot be concluded that absence of wellness offerings on a program’s website indicates absence of wellness initiatives within the program, these findings emphasize the space for growth in creating wellness opportunities and strategies for reducing burnout amongst general surgery residency programs.