Our program is a community of residents and faculty that believes that the health and well-being of our profession is as important as that of the patients in our care: we cannot care for others unless we are well ourselves. We recognize that the wellbeing of each physician is a shared responsibility. The greater US medical system, the UPHS health system, the residency program itself and each of us as individuals contribute to our own wellbeing. Many of this residency program’s leadership are working at the national level to bring about much needed change. Effective interventions must address the system-level causes, including workflow inefficiencies, negative learning environments, and work overload with poor support. We also recognize that some of the norms of our profession - perfectionism, presenteeism, and pathologic altruism - also contribute to burnout. We strive as a community to reset these norms. At the program-level, our mission is to support each member of our community to thrive, not just survive, throughout residency. Lastly, we also acknowledge that each of us must make a commitment to our own individual health and well-being: physically, emotionally and spiritually.
What Wellness Looks Like at Penn IM
As a residency program, we believe that we are stronger as a community than any of us working alone. This team-centered philosophy permeates our inpatient services, our outpatient clinic sites, and how we approach the wellbeing of our resident community.
Integrated into the residency’s academic curriculum is a longitudinal Emotional Intelligence (EQ) curriculum, co-directed by Dr. Oana Tomescu and Dr. Farah Hussain. This evidence-based curriculum incorporates a diverse array of strategies from multiple disciplines that have been shown to help trainees develop a personalized EQ toolkit to use for their own personal development and to better care for their patients. The EQ curriculum continues into JAR and SAR years, with a focus on using these strategies to become more effective team leaders.
Our program financially supports many social activities, including social groups (Book Club, sports teams, and many more), team brunch and insomnia cookies for our residents on night float, ILM group social functions, and other team-based events. The program hosts a holiday party annually and sponsors several dinners for the SAR class throughout the year.
We are committed to supporting our residents in all these ways. Wellness is about community, safety, belonging and support.
Wellness Spaces
We know that our environments contribute greatly to our well-being. Our program is committed to creating sanctuary spaces in which our residents can relax, recharge with a healthy snack or coffee/tea, and just pause to take a break in the middle of a workday.
Our
program is also committed to workspace redesign: most recently, we
renovated the Medical Education Office, providing additional learning
and touchdown space.
We use outdoor space for socializing as much as possible.
The recently renovated Housestaff Gym can be used by all trainees at HUP.
HUP Wellness Rooms in the Pavilion
There are also a variety of wellness rooms located on inpatient floors in the pavilion that are available for all HUP employees. There are spaces with exercise equipment, wellness coaching, meditation space, etc. These spaces can be reserved for your use!