The Resident Wellness Committee, run by the residents, is dedicated to providing resources and organizing activities to help residents stay physically and emotionally healthy, as well as develop good habits for the future.
The stress of residency can take its toll on anyone and has been in the national spotlight. You can read more about this in the articles below:
To reach the Wellness Committee, please scroll to the bottom, or email pennemwellness@gmail.com.
Preventing Burnout
We have a variety of both formal and informal residency activities to enjoy life outside of the emergency room with our residency family.
Resident Wellness Day:
Every year, we have a dedicated day to wellness, based on the interests of the current residents. The Wellness Day covers topics from financial planning and advising to group exercise and meditation/mindfulness.
Big Sib Program, ED Family:
Every intern has an assigned ED “family” with “big sibs,” which consists of a PGY 2, PGY 3, PGY 4 and attending physicians. This unofficial program has become a big hit, with families often doing monthly get-togethers consisting of dinners, casual outings, or fitness classes to provide mentoring and advice for career and personal success.
Yearly Holiday Party:
This annual event is hosted by the Department of Emergency Medicine, and is a fun night of cocktails, dinner, and socializing with the residents, faculty, nursing, staff, and their families.
Interncation:
At the end of the PGY 1 year, the interns have over a week off to do whatever they want! Some classes have been mellow and done beach trips and others have found their adventurous side and flown to Cuba!
Nursing Meet and Greet:
Every year during the intern orientation the ED nurses organize a social event with the residents to establish relationships among team members for the upcoming academic year.
Beach Day:
Our annual Beach Day is a relaxing day on the beach, hosted by various faculty members for the residents and their significant others to unwind. We are lucky in Philadelphia to have both Atlantic City just a short drive away, as well as the Jersey Shore nearby.
Senior Graduation:
We are sad to see our seniors go but the final farewell is always a blast!
The residency has also sponsored events like class bowling, escape rooms, amazing race style scavenger hunts. Every year is unique! As the Wellness Committee expands, we constantly recruit feedback in order to bring in events and address issues that are important to our residents.
Social Media
Social media is everywhere and we love to use it! We have residency wide group messaging where we post interesting cases/links and you can get real time answers to any and every question!
We recently expanded this messaging to have a dedicated group with our nurses to communicate department wide social gatherings and hang-outs.
And of course we have Facebook and even our hashtag for Twitter and Instagram: #whatiloveaboutpennEM
Physical Wellness
We take physical wellness seriously at PennEM. While everyone may not be a marathon runner, Soul Cycler, or adrenaline junkie, there are common themes in the residency.
Sleep Cycles:
Shifts are primarily 9 hours in length. As you progress through residency the total number of shifts per block gradually decreases. Additionally, nights are scheduled together to decrease the number of day to night switches.
Vacations:
Who doesn’t love a good vacation? All residents get four weeks of vacation, which includes either the week of Christmas or New Years to be with your loved ones. Additionally, starting PGY 2 year, there is an increasing amount of elective time that can be used to hone your skills or areas of interest; many residents have done travel electives or even gone abroad.
Shift Breaks:
Mandatory breaks during your PGY 1 and PGY 2 years, where the attending or senior resident holds your phone to give the junior residents some time to eat, regroup, and come back refreshed.
Activities:
The residency is also a very active one, with almost weekly gatherings to get physically active ranging from an Ultimate Frisbee team, to races and runs, as well as fitness or hip hop classes that are organized by some of the Big Sib Program members and attending physicians.
We also have residency or department wide physical activity challenges, designed to build camaraderie and to motivate and encourage each other to be active.
The residency provides breakfast at weekly conference days and lunch on noon conference days. There are plenty of good eats in the area of the hospital including restaurants and food trucks.
Residency Career Mentoring and Planning
As residents plan for their careers and life after residency, our split curriculum provides senior residents with sessions specific to important considerations, including: CV/cover letter design, the application/interview timeline, disability insurance, wealth management and retirement planning, and student loan repayment.
Residents also have access to a faculty jumping at the opportunity to serve as career mentors. In addition to regularly meeting with residency leadership, you'll also identify and develop mentorship relationships guiding you through training and helping plan for the future.
In addition to the ED Family program and career development lecture series, we also have monthly “Shemergency” and “Men Of EM events” with the attending physicians. These events allow more bonding between residents and attending physician and in the past have been barbeques, yoga, etc. Every attending wants their residents to succeed and can offer mentorship. Shemergency is a unique program to Penn, started by dedicated residents and female faculty members to provide formal and informal mentorship to cultivate female leaders and explore the unique challenges women face within the field of Emergency Medicine.
Resources for Residents
Every resident has access to a variety of resources to help their mental health, including access to Penn Behavioral Health which provides different options based on the needs of the resident. In addition, the residency leadership has an open-door policy to discuss any concerns that may arise. The ombudsperson is an additional resource, always available to any resident, and is a more neutral option available for extra support outside the Emergency Department. To reach the ombudsperson contact the GME office directly. More resources can be found at our House Staff Governing Council.