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WholeheartedMD: Medical Students Embracing Vulnerability and Finding Fulfillment
Alexis Smith1, Erica Barnett2, Beth Frates3
1Candidate at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Introduction:
Medical Students experience high levels of stress throughout their four years. When the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this, there was a need for programming and this created an opportunity to provide a whole person, lifestyle medicine approach to enhance medical student wellbeing.
Methods:
Two student leaders and one faculty member created a 12-week program that addressed the 6 pillars of lifestyle medicine as well as positive psychology. The program was offered to all first year students, and within 12 hours the roster was full with 15 students. The program was held weekly by Zoom for 1-2 hours.
Results:
Attendance was high each week with full participation from everyone present. In the post program evaluation form, conducted one year after completion of the program, 100% of respondents reported they would recommend this group to another medical student, 71% reported they used tools learned from the group at least weekly. Participants noted that growth mindset, gratitude, mindfulness, priorities, and relationship building were the most used well-being strategies learned in the program.
Conclusion:
An intervention that is based on the 6 pillars of lifestyle medicine and positive psychology and presented by Zoom is feasible in medical school and well accepted by medical students.