Resident wellness: institutional trends over 10 years since 2003

Abstract

Background

The surveys in this study were carried out at the Graduate Medical Education Division at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). OHSU implemented two significant wellness initiatives: a wellness program in 2004, and a policy allowing 4 half-days off each academic year to pursue personal or family health care needs in 2010. This study provides a secondary data analysis of five cross-sectional surveys of career satisfaction of resident and fellow trainees.

Methods

All trainees were surveyed five times over a 10-year period using anonymous, cross-sectional web-based survey instruments. Surveys included questions about career satisfaction, perceived stress, sleep hours, burnout, and related factors.

Results

This represents 10 years of accumulated responses from over 2,200 residents with results showing continual improvement in their career satisfaction. Response rates ranged from 56% to 72%. During the study period, there was a significant positive change in overall resident career satisfaction, with little change in factors traditionally considered to be predictive of overall career satisfaction such as sleep hours or perceived stress level. In addition, our data support that availability of time for personal tasks could positively impact the overall training experience.

Conclusion

We postulate that the improvements in satisfaction relate to two major institutional innovations designed to promote resident wellness.

Keywords:

• satisfaction
• burnout
• graduate medical education
• personal time-off

Supplementary material

Appendix S1 2013 Survey Instrument.

Abbreviations: ACGME, Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education; dd, day; mm, month; OHSU, Oregon Health & Science University; PGY, postgraduate training years; yyyy, year.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the residents of OHSU, especially those who participated in the surveys, and the OHSU GME Office for help in administering the surveys. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of OHSU (approval number 1711).

Author contributions

All authors contributed toward data analysis, drafting and critically revising the paper, gave final approval of the version to be published, and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.