Using poetry to elicit internal medicine residents' perspectives on wellness

To elicit internal medicine residents' perspectives on wellness through poetry writing, examining (1) response rates, (2) the tone/sentiment of their submissions and (3) the primary thematic content.

In academic year 2019-2020, a random sample of 88 residents from four internal medicine residency programmes was invited to participate in a year-long study of wellness. In December 2019, an open-ended prompt asked residents to write a poem reflecting on their well-being. Responses were inductively coded using content analysis techniques.

The response rate for the poetry prompt was 94%. The tone of the entries was most often neutral or contradictory (42%), followed by negative (33%) and positive (25%). There were three main themes: (1) Mindsets: most residents simply wanted to make it through their programme; (2) wellness influencers: the main wellness supporters were external to the programme such as vacationing and exercise; within hospitals, friendships with colleagues and boosted wellness and (3) scheduling/repetition: difficult schedules drained energy as did the monotony of administrative tasks.

Poetry appears to be an innovative and effective vehicle to elicit residents' perspectives without compromising response rate. Poetry survey techniques allow medical trainees to provide powerful messaging to leadership. Most of what is known about trainee wellness is derived from quantitative surveys. This study showed medicine trainees' willingness to engage in poetry and add richness and personal detail to highlight key drivers of wellness. Such information provides context and brings attention in a compelling manner to an important topic.