Abstract
BACKGROUND: There is extensive literature on physician burnout showing that it correlates with individual mental and physical illness, leads to adverse patient outcomes, and is financially costly to health systems. Further, understanding physician burnout is a step towards improving physician wellness. Investments in physician wellness nationwide have occurred in a broad assortment of ways; however the literature does not present wellness funds to residents as a previously studied approach. OBJECTIVE: Our goal was to study the impact of wellness credits on resident burnout and assess residents’ overall perspective of the intervention on their daily wellness. We hypothesize a decrease in burnout and an overall positive assessment of the program by involved residents. METHODS: In the Fall of 2021, the University of Chicago EM Residency program began to give financial stipends during the most difficult rotations as a novel approach to mitigating resident burnout. This was a quasi-experimental, prospective study investigating the impact of stipends on EM resident burnout. Following the intervention, a post-intervention survey was sent to residents to assess perspectives on the initiative. RESULTS: 36/49 residents (73%) responded to the survey. Over half of residents “often” or “always” (42%, 8%, respectively) had difficulty completing daily chores, and 72% of residents used more than half or all of the gift cards for such chores. In turn, 74% of residents “agree” or “strongly agree” that the initiative benefits their overall wellness.” Finally, 100% of respondents would like to see the initiative continue. CONCLUSIONS: All respondents felt that the gift card initiative should continue; the majority of residents used this help with daily chores that they had difficulty fulfilling. Further, residents reported an increase in wellness after this initiative. We plan on investigating this intervention in relation to individuals’ Maslach Burnout Inventory.
