History
The Jewish General Hospital Physician Wellbeing Program began as an attainable dream, in 2018. 听That June, I attended the first annual Canadian Women in Medicine conference in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, which inspired me to become involved in the field of Physician Wellbeing. 听That same year, I took a course offered by the McGill Department of Medicine, on the topic of Physician Wellbeing. 听Together, these two experiences taught me the foundations of how to begin to address wellbeing in our group of Emergency physicians.
Early in 2019, I submitted a proposal to the ED Chief, Dr. Marc Afilalo, requesting to form a Wellbeing Committee. 听We met, discussed, and he rapidly adopted the idea that this was an important endeavour. 听With a visionary leader such as Dr. Afilalo, it was easy to get things moving. 听I sent out a needs survey to our group, got back a large amount of data that I then collated and analyzed. 听In September of 2019 I presented the concepts of Physician Wellbeing and Burnout, along with the creation of the ED Physician Wellbeing Committee and the results of our survey, at a departmental meeting. 听Though there were quite a few cynics in the room that evening, with giggles and snickers heard more than once, those same individuals were amongst the first to realize shortly thereafter, that this was more than just a shot in the dark. 听The group rapidly came on board and the committee grew to three, then five members. 听There is hardly any more skepticism within the group, as our interventions have borne fruit and this is visible to all.
At the beginning, we created a Thank You card campaign which dramatically improved morale. 听Patients filled out the cards and handed them directly to members of the ED team, or placed them in boxes around the department; these cards were then hung up on a Wellbeing Board that sits outside the staff locker rooms. 听Other things we have done include social events such as bowling (pre-pandemic), outdoor get togethers, and pumpkin picking. 听We held a wonderful Virtual Holiday Party, recognized our residents with thank you gifts, celebrated Canadian Women Physicians Day and supported our nurses with snacks and pizza during Emergency Nursing Week.
The intervention that has made the most difference on a daily basis, was fixing up our ED call room and adding in a full size fridge. 听This is stocked every couple of weeks by Dr. Engo, who has made it possible for all of us to take a few minutes during a hard shift to eat something delicious or have a cold Diet Coke or Bubly.
We continue to move forward every day with new ideas, programs and events. 听I just finished the Director of Wellbeing course at Stanford Medicine, and this inspired me and taught me much more that is helping with our future endeavours. 听Shortly, we will be training a dozen MDs to be Peer Supporters for our group. 听Additionally, we are reviewing a new survey and will hold Ask-Listen-Empower focus groups in order to come up with more changes to benefit each other. 听We supported our younger MDs in advocating for scheduling improvements - which happened - and watched happily as another group of docs decided to spearhead a revamping of Signover (which has greatly helped improve our lives). 听
Creating a Culture of Wellness within our institution (based on the Stanford Model of Professional Fulfillment) has become my current priority. 听Thanks to Dr. Afilalo's unwavering support and mentorship, I spoke at the level of our Medical Executive Committee and started the ball rolling within our entire hospital (and beyond). 听I have now adapted and given this presentation for the Departments of Obstetrics-Gynecology, Neonatology, and Family Medicine. 听Soon I will speak to the Department of Surgery, and the Department of Anesthesia at another hospital. 听In the near future, this presentation will be given at two national conferences. 听
Physician Wellbeing is a passion and a necessity, requiring vision and strong champions. I am fortunate, we are fortunate, to have a dedicated team who are working tirelessly to further the goals of making our physicians whole, well, and joyful at work. 听Please see the members below.
-- Dr. Sara Ahronheim
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The Team
Sara Ahronheim - Committee Chair
I am an Emergency Physician, working as an attending at the JGH since 2014. 听I am also a mom of two amazing young kids and a frisky tiny goldendoodle. 听My husband is a golf pro and triathlete who keeps all of us busy all the time. 听My vision is that this Wellbeing Committee will be a ray of light, to show our physicians and the department as a whole that personal and professional wellness are equally important and must be valued. 听Without individual physician wellbeing, patient care will suffer. 听We must take care of ourselves and eachother, and our team is committed to advocating for our colleagues.听
Didier Serero
It鈥檚 a pleasure to be part of the JGH 听Emergency department鈥檚 Physician Well-being Committee.听
I think of our motto as 鈥渂y us, for us鈥�.听
In investing to create the 听most pleasant, safe and healthy workplace environment, we are improving 听the overall ER experience for physicians, and consequently for all our 听patients as well.
Michael Engo
When I started as an attending at the JGH emergency two decades ago, wellbeing was an afterthought.听 In time, I grew to recognize that 听wellbeing is no longer an option but a necessary part of our professional lives.听 We aught to be looking after ourselves and our 听colleagues with as much care as we do for our patients.听 听Mindfulness, 听mental resiliency, peer support and team morale are important to the 听future of our department.听 We will not do this on our own.听听The Wellbeing committee is committed to be there front and 听center for all of us.
Evan Blauer
Outside the ER I鈥檓 a proud father of three kids and 1 new puppy. I met 听my wife at summer camp and we have been married for 13 years. I鈥檝e 听always loved sports and always tried to balance athletics with 听academics. My favourite sport growing up was hockey and I always played goalie. I also played volleyball and practiced 听martial arts. My other passion has always been the great outdoors and I 听still love sharing this with my kids at the cottage.听I鈥檓 learning a lot about well-being 听over the past few years and I 听believe the key to well-being is balance. Choose what is most important 听to you and strive to balance these priorities.
Mitch Stendel
Attending Emergency Physician, father, golf enthusiast. More to come.