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Florida Society of Anesthesiologists

2019 FSA Posters

P017: NOTEWORTHY: IMPROVING PHYSICIAN WELLNESS THROUGH A WEEKLY HUMANITIES-BASED EMAIL NEWSLETTER
David Cohen, EdD; University of Miami

In 2018, 42% of physicians in the United States reported being burned out. At the medical school level, a study suggested that medical students who spend more time engaging with the arts have reported lower levels of burnout.

There was no inclusion of humanities education in the curriculum in the graduate medical education level in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Miami. 

A weekly email was sent to residents and fellows to remind them to report duty hours and case logs and keep the group updated on other administrative and educational obligations.

At the beginning of the 2017-2018 academic year (July 2017), the newsletter was renamed Noteworthy and included a humanities-based entry each week, sometimes medical-based, sometimes not medical-based.

Noteworthy entries were not mandatory to read/listen/view.

Residents and Fellows were welcome to send submissions for future Noteworthy entries. 

To assess effectiveness of the Noteworthy newsletter, an online anonymous survey was sent to residents and fellows after three months and one year of implementation. 

  • 51% (3-M) & 65% (1-Y) reported to always or frequently reading at least five minutes of each entry
  • 83% (3-M) & 95% (1-Y) reported to always or frequently feel that reading for pleasure is helpful for well being.
  • 63% (3-M) & 80% (1-Y) reported that they found the Noteworthy newsletter to be extremely or moderately useful.
  • 68.3% (3-M) & 83% (1-Y) strongly agreed or agreed that the Noteworthy newsletter should continue.
  • Many residents and fellows who responded to the survey felt that the humanities-based content included in the Noteworthy newsletter was useful, felt that reading for pleasure was helpful for well being, and agreed that the newsletter should continue.
  • An unintended benefit mentioned by several first year residents who spend little or no time in our department was that receiving Noteworthy  on a weekly basis helped reinforce feelings of community within our department.