"Plastic Surgery Program Leadership Perspectives on Wellness and Professional Development Curricula-Where are we...

Burnout is common amongst surgical trainees and its consequences can be detrimental to both mental health and patient care. As such, wellness and professional development have moved to the forefront of discussion in surgical education. The purpose of this study is to describe the current landscape of wellness and professional development education, as well as barriers to initiation of dedicated curricula.

Electronic surveys were distributed to 115 publicly available program director (PD) or coordinator emails for integrated and independent plastic surgery programs.

The survey response rate was 40%. Burnout was a problem within 28.6% of respondent's programs. An additional 50% reported "they had dealt with burnout, but it was not a problem." Thus, 78.6% of respondents reported burnout issues amongst their trainees. While all respondents believed that prioritizing resident wellness was 1 of their many roles, 78.6% felt that this role should be shared. Forty percent of programs did not have wellness programming with 84.2% indicating that the addition of a dedicated curriculum would benefit their trainees. Common barriers to implementation included: lack of interest, impingement upon free time, lack of resources, onerous initiation, and concern regarding a shift from academic focus. Eighty three percent of respondents would be interested in adopting curricula from another program.

Burnout remains a major issue, affecting over 75% of plastic surgery programs; however, the current landscape of wellness and professional development curricula is highly variable. Adopting curricula from other programs may address commonly cited barriers.