Accreditor lays out plan for resident well-being

Dr. Brigham started with Lewin ’s equation:B = f(P,  E). It states that behavior is a function of a person and his or her environment. He then pointed to its implications for physicians and physician well-being. “Think about what we expose our residents to: death and dying, other people’s secrets, other people’s sickness, depression and anxiety. But it’s not all depressing.” Timothy Brigham, MDiv, PhD, chief of staff and senior vice president in the Department of Education at the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), was speaking to representatives from the 32 member schools of the AMA ’sAccelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium at the 2016 consortium meeting in Chicago. His keynote, which focused on physician well-being, referenced what many know but are reluctant to mention.What separates physicians“There’s a set of personality characteristics that differentiate physicians, residents and medical students,” Dr. Brigham said. “One is, in a non-psychiatric way, you tend to be more obsessive-compulsive. It’s about order, control and focus, which helps most people get through those first two years. If you don’t have those qualities, you develop those qualities.” More to the point, physicians tend to get things done where other people give up, he explained.“One of the major problems with us in terms of duty hours is not program directors’ saying, ‘You have to work more hours,’” he said. “It’s young t...
Source: AMA Wire - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Source Type: news