Evaluation of a Formal Wellness Curriculum to Reduce Burnout in Anesthesia Residents: A Pilot Study

Long-term exhaustion and chronic occupational stress often result in physician burnout, which can have adverse consequences for patients, physicians, their families, and society. We hypothesized that increased engagement with a wellness curriculum would reduce the level of burnout, as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS).

We created a yearlong multifaceted pilot wellness curriculum for anesthesia residents at our institution. All residents could experience the wellness curriculum regardless of enrollment in the study. Residents completed the MBI-HSS three times during the year and indicated the number of wellness events attended via web survey. We assessed the influence of different curriculum components and time on the trajectory of three MBI-HSS subscales: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment.

Thirty-nine of 43 residents consented to participate in the study and completed at least one survey. Residents showed high levels of emotional exhaustion (mean 29.6; SD 11.14), depersonalization (12.8; 4.49), and personal accomplishment (45.0; 6.50) at baseline. Only personal accomplishment showed a significant increase over time (P < .036). Off-campus, wellness group sessions significantly decreased depersonalization (P = .001) and showed no difference in emotional exhaustion (P = .090). However, didactic workshops and wellness-related grand rounds failed to improve our measure of physician burnout, underscoring the need for alternative interventions to reduce this problem.

A formal wellness curriculum that used classic didactic teaching methods was ineffective at decreasing resident burnout scores. Only wellness group meetings significantly reduced burnout measures. Our findings have important implications for planning future resident wellness interventions.