Improving staff wellness via an after-hours healthy sustainable meals program: A general surgery residency pilot

Healthcare worker wellness is foundational to delivering quality care. Yet, healthcare facilities often lack access to healthy and sustainable food overnight and on weekends. Healthy, low-carbon meals were provided free of charge after hours to on-call General Surgery residents at the University of British Columbia and the impact on resident well-being assessed using pre- and post-intervention surveys. Financial and time stress reduced significantly with the provision of meals (P's < .01), while emotional and physical stress levels did not change. Average meal expenses decreased from $33 to $10 (P < .001). Increasing food access on call is an impactful intervention to improve resident health and well-being.