Total Wellness for Physicians

Here at Physician’s Resource Services, we’ve made it our mission to provide Better Planning, to help create Better Doctors, which leads to Better Families. We know that part of being a better doctor means taking care of yourself, and we understand how hard that can be in an ever-changing, fast-paced environment like healthcare. We are so grateful for the selfless service you provide that is hypercritical to a healthy society. However, we also understand that your health and well-being is often overlooked, and with the resources we’ve provided below, we hope that we can not only help you find wellness, but that we can also help lobby for awareness of the importance of wellness and physician burnout.

Accredited Resources For You

The resources below have been gathered from a variety of publicly-available accredited sources, and have been reviewed for relevance and accuracy. The links below include both free and proprietary (fees may apply) programs, tools and materials that can be leveraged from the individual level all the way to the GME level. If you have leveraged a tool or technique in your practice that has been helpful in creating an environment of wellness, we encourage you to share it with us.

Promoting Well-Being

• Meditation Oasis Podcast – Features guided meditation for free as long as the pandemic lasts. This page features the most recent episodes.
• Building Your Resilient Self – Webinar that teaches how to build resilience in your life and in your practice.
• Insight Timer – 95,000 free meditations, also containing meditations about grief.
• I.M. Emotional Support Hub – This page compiles several different resources for both individuals and organizations like support lines, meditations, webinars, etc.
• You Can’t Pour from an Empty Cup: Why Clinicians’ Spiritual Health Matters in the Time of COVID-19
• Burnout & Well-Being from Steps Forward by the American Medical Association
• 5-minute Guided Meditation Led by CFAS Chair-elect Adi Haramati, PhD
• Sleep, Alertness, and Fatigue Education in Residency (SAFER) Program by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (Paid Program)

Burnout Prevention & Identification

• Surviving a Thousand Cuts: How to Address Physician Burnout – This article addresses how hard the COVID-19 pandemic has been on physicians and health care workers, then goes on to suggest tips on how to make it through.
• Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) Survey for Medical Personnel (Paid Program)
• It’s Not Burnout, It’s Moral Injury from Dr. Zubin Damania
• Create a Holistic, Supportive Culture of Wellness from Steps Forward by the American Medical Association

Improving the Learning and Working Environment

• Fact Sheet: Sustaining the Well-Being of Healthcare Personnel during Coronavirus and other Infectious Disease Outbreaks – This fact sheet includes challenges for healthcare personnel during outbreaks, and strategies for sustaining their well-being.
• Medical Student Well-Being: Don’t Forget About Us – This video talks about the well-being of medical students well-being and strategies on how to maintain it- both while in school and during training.
• Appreciative Inquiry Principles: Ask “What Went Well” to Foster Positive Organizational Culture – Helps build and maintain a positive organizational culture in the practice through appreciative inquiry, as well as tools to help with this.
• Protect Against Burnout and Encourage Self-Care from Steps Forward by the American Medical Association
• Optimizing Your Mentoring Relationship: A Toolkit for Mentors and Mentees from the Association fo American Medical Colleges

Coping with Tragedy & Crisis

• Positive Psychology in Times of Crisis – This video shares positive psychology strategies to use in times of crisis such as happiness boosters, pausing to breathe, and more.
• What to Do When Someone is at Risk – Short article explaining how to handle things when someone you know is thinking about suicide.
• Positive Psychology in Times of Crisis from the American College of Physicians
• Resident Wellness Toolkit from John Hopkins University
• After a Suicide: A Toolkit for Physician Residency/Fellowship Programs from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP)
• Resident Death by Suicide: The GME Officer’s Role in the Response and Management in the Aftermath from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education

Identifying & Addressing Emotional & Psychological Distress

• Physician Suicide and Support: Identify At-Risk Physicians and Facilitate Access to Appropriate Care – Helps identify at-risk physicians, answers common questions, and provides downloadable tools to help prevent physician distress and reduce risk of suicide.
• Self-Assessment – A tool to help physicians evaluate their well-being, fulfillment at work, self- compassion, and more.
• Stress First Aid for Health Care Professionals: Recognize and Respond Early to Stress Injuries – Helps to recognize stress injuries, administer Stress First Aid at individual and organizational level.
• Make the Difference: Preventing Medical Trainee Suicide from the Mayo Clinic and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP)
• 10 Facts About Physician Suicide and Mental Health from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP)
• Why Medicine Leads the Professions in Suicide, and What We Can Do About It
• Suicide Prevention in University Settings