Well-being curriculum for anesthesiology residents: Development, processes, and preliminary outcomes

Physician burnout and healthcare worker stress are well-covered topics in both the medical and lay press. Burnout in physicians can start as early as medical school. Well-being initiatives, programming, and access to support for all medical professionals are of paramount importance. In 2014, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Milestones for Resident/Fellow Education in Anesthesiology added Professionalism as a milestone. A subcategory of Professionalism includes: A responsibility to maintain personal, emotional, physical, and mental health. This subcategory charges all residency and fellowship programs with establishing a curriculum in well-being. The development, execution, and evaluation of these programs are left to the individual institutions. In this paper, the development, processes, and preliminary outcomes of a resident well-being curriculum are presented.