Resident Wellness

The Wellness Curriculum was designed to help our residents in managing the difficult balance of residency as well as personal life. This curriculum is ongoing starting with lectures on substance abuse, resident wellness, and learning styles during the CA-1 orientation. Each resident also takes a resident wellness survey at the beginning, middle and end of each resident year so that we as a group can address areas of distress. The education aspect of the curriculum continues throughout the year with lectures, grand rounds, and journal discussions focusing on the most important aspects of one’s well-being:

1)         Nutrition
2)         Fitness
3)         Emotional health
4)         Preventative care
5)         Financial health
6)         Mindset and behavior adaptability

Additionally, each resident class has an appointed wellness champion to help organize social events and ensure resident wellness at work. These resident wellness champions communicate on a regular basis with the faculty wellness champions to resolve all issues of distress and keep up the departmental morale. The program director as well as assistant program director also serve as wellness champions with an open door policy and continuous availability. Wellness champions are also responsible for maintaining a monthly social calendar to encourage resident bonding and fraternization. Lastly, instead of lecture, once a year, all the residents will have a two hour protected time to meet with each other without faculty and have an open forum for discussion. Any critical issues, if decided upon by the residents, can then be brought forward to the departmental leaders’ attention to foster change. As learning is a crucial part of residency training, in addition to recognizing learning style through the orientation survey and lecture, a yearly meeting takes place with either the PD or APD to discuss each residents learning progress and address the areas which may need improvement. The goal of the meeting is to provide each resident with the necessary tools to learn, have autonomy, and feel empowered.

For additional Rutgers sponsored resident wellness events please check out the NJMS Resident Wellness calendar. Further resources are also available through the Resident Wellness and Excellence Center.