General Surgery Resident Participation in a Mandatory Wellness Program: Six Years Later

Following the approval of a resident-created physician wellness program in 2016, an initial survey demonstrated majority support for the implementation of a mandatory curriculum. The purpose of this study is to survey surgical residents about the wellness curriculum six years after implementation and re-evaluate preference for mandatory participation.

In 2016, the CORE7 Wellness Program didactic sessions were integrated into the general surgery resident education curriculum. A comparison between 2016 and 2022 resident survey results was done to examine overall approval and resident experience.

A total of 25 general surgery residents responded to the 2022 survey which equaled to a response rate of 67.5% compared to a response rate of 87.1% in 2016. Similar to the results in 2016, there was unanimous support (100%, n = 25) in favor of the ongoing development of a general surgery wellness program. The majority of residents (88% versus 85.2% in 2016) preferred quarterly "wellness half-days" remain a mandatory component of the program. In 2016, most of the residents (50%) stated that the reason for mandatory preference for wellness half-days was ease of explanation to faculty. In 2022, the reason changed to a combination of reasons with most residents (59%) selecting ease of explanation to attendings, feeling too guilty otherwise to leave the shift, and forcing the resident to think about self-care. Complaints about taking a wellness half-day from other team members increased from 29% in 2016 to 48% in 2022.

Six years after implementation, there is unanimous support for the mandatory components of a general surgery residency wellness curriculum. Increased perceived complaints from faculty and staff about resident wellness present an opportunity for improvement.