The Implementation of a National Multifaceted Emergency Medicine Resident Wellness Curriculum Is Not Associated With Changes in Burnout

BackgroundThe Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Common Program Requirements effective 2017 state that programs and sponsoring institutions have the same responsibility to address well-being as they do other aspects of resident competence. ObjectivesThe authors sought to determine if the implementation of a multifaceted wellness curriculum improved resident burnout as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). MethodsWe performed a multicenter educational interventional trial at 10 emergency medicine (EM) residencies. In February 2017, we administered the MBI at all sites. A year-long wellness curriculum was then introduced at five intervention sites while five control sites agreed not to introduce new wellness initiatives during the study period. The MBI was readministered in August 2017 and February 2018. ResultsOf 523 potential respondents, 437 (83.5%) completed at least one MBI assessment. When burnout was assessed as a continuous variable, there was a statistically significant difference in the depersonalization component favoring the control sites at the baseline and final survey administrations. There was also a higher mean personal accomplishment score at the control sites at the second survey administration. However, when assessed as a dichotomous variable, there were no differences in global burnout between the groups at any survey administration and burnout scores did not change over time for either control or intervention sites. ConclusionsIn this national study of EM residents, MBI scores remained stable over time and the introduction of a multifaceted wellness curriculum was not associated with changes in global burnout scores.