Medical Staff Wellness

Wellness at Wellstar

Physicians and APPs spend upwards of 10,000 hours learning how to diagnose and treat patients, but only a small portion of their education covers caring for themselves.

Many healthcare providers find themselves giving all they have, denying self-care. Over time, they can experience symptoms of burnout, including physical and emotional exhaustion, a sense of detachment from the meaning of their work and a decreased sense of personal accomplishment. Thoughtful and proactive approaches that address the demands on clinicians and offer resources to mitigate those burdens can help prevent burnout and improve quality of life.

Resources are intended to help medical staff who fall into any of three groups:

1. Clinicians maintaining work-life balance and striving to prevent symptoms of burnout.
2. Clinicians experiencing mild-to-moderate symptoms of burnout.
3. Caregivers experiencing severe symptoms that warrant more extensive interventions.

Virtual Resources

Peer coaching

Wellstar Psychological Services launched a physician and APP helpline in 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The helpline can be accessed through the PerfectServe app and allows Wellstar providers to connect with a behavioral health professional for stress management guidance.

Provider toolkit

This resource offers physicians and APPs an overview of stress management resources, including self-assessments to gauge distress levels, a summary of available resources and education about how to handle burnout, stress and fatigue. Medical staff members can access more information about this resource through the Provider Resources link on the Epic homepage.

Behavioral health podcast series

This series addresses various wellness and stress management topics that the medical staff can experience. Visit Soundcloud at the links below to listen to Wellstar’s podcast series on managing stress during COVID-19.

• Behavioral Health & COVID-19 Trailer
• 5 Domains of Post-Traumatic Growth
• Uncertainty During the COVID-19 Pandemic
• Managing Anxiety Amid COVID-19
• Eating Well During COVID-19
• Sleep During COVID-19
• Parenting During a Pandemic
• Suicide Prevention During COVID-19 Pandemic

Wellness video modules

Using a biopsychosocial approach, Wellstar psychologists create videos that help clinicians understand the physical, emotional and social impacts of stress. Each module is accompanied by a skills-based module that helps with application of the methods discussed. Visit the links below at Wellstar’s YouTube channel to view A Comprehensive Stress Management Series.

• Part 1: Comprehensive Stress Management Introduction
• Part 2: Biological Effects of Stress and How to Manage Them
• Part 3: An Introduction to Mindfulness & Diaphragmatic Breathing
• Part 4: Psychological Effects of Stress and How to Manage Them
• Part 5: Challenging Negative Self-Talk
• Part 6: Social Effects of Stress and How to Manage Them
• Part 7: Loving Kindness Meditation

Immersive Wellness Retreats & Training

Resiliency and leadership development events

These are intensive in-person events designed to help providers develop a lasting resiliency plan to improve personal wellness and work-life balance. Physicians and APPs have described the original four-day leadership development experience as “life-changing.”

Quantified feedback from the original in-person workshop program showed promising results, including:

• 100% reported that the workshop has put them on a path to strengthen their personal resiliency
• 98% participants reported being able to enjoy personal time without focusing on work matters
• 87% reported being able to disconnect from communications during free time
• 83% reported being able to free their mind from work when they are away from it
• 79% reported that they rarely lose sleep over work issues

Virtual resiliency events

With the world’s need to be more virtual, we are expanding wellness opportunities so physicians and APPs can take advantage of support from the comfort of their homes.