Wellness is unhealthy. Wellness was defined by regulators, and is always required. It is anti-wellness. At both of my residencies, we were required to attend Wellness events throughout the years. They were always at night. They always involved people scheduling and creating call systems to somehow get all of us to the required event. For those of us who were not on-call, we were required to take one of our few free nights to attend a hospital sponsored event – always at the hospital – where we were given lectures about “balance,” how to be “positive” at work, how to exercise even when you don’t feel like it…
I was always amazed at two things: First, the events took away from our limited free time. This made them “anti-wellness.” We hated them. They took time away from things we do that were actually “wellness” – go grab drinks, read books, exercise, whatever. A huge waste. And not only a huge waste, but a huge required waste, on their clock and at their building. And that made it somehow much worse. And second, Wellness always focuses on somehow being happy outside of work. Work out. Read. Do things for yourself. Separate work from home.
Wellness like this is simply ignoring that we need to be more Well at work. When you work this many hours, there should be areas to spend time and relax at work. When I was at the University of Michigan, for example, there was a huge hang-out space for residents. There were of course a bunch of computers to work on, but there are also comfortable couches, a “dining table,” and a big TV. There was even a massage chair! But mostly, it was protected space, where residents – who experience the hospital and the world in a very unique way, with unique pressures – are protected from their faculty, the nurses, and the immediately next-door patient rooms, even just for a bit. And it built a sense of community. Yes, we all were working. But we all could smile at each other, commiserate, and relax a bit. We could ask in an unpressured environment how people normally manage this or that diagnose (we termed it the “senior-to-senior consult”).
Other institutions don’t have a separate resident room, towards the idea that physicians shouldn’t be treated differently, or that others felt left out, or various other reasons, all not respective of the unique experience of “The Resident.” All conversations were public (thus ended the “I don’t know how to do this” conversations, which now made you look bad). The nurses, techs, janitors and other supportive staff were there, so we couldn’t commiserate or develop the unique bonds you need to in order to get through residency. Don’t get me wrong – I love interacting with my non-physician colleagues and in fact, you sometimes need those relationships more than with your physician contemporaries. But as a resident, you need to talk to residents, safely and privately. It is horrible, and it takes a toll on residents.
But teaching “Wellness” to residents isn’t the answer. These learning experiences in the hospital-residency environment are a laughable joke. You learn useful life-tips in your limited free time. Frequently the “teaching sessions” are after work (i.e. when you could be at home), required, and useless. I would be healthier NOT going to them, and instead having an extra hour of free time.
And I actually don’t think residency was that horrible. Yes, we work a lot. Yes, we have unique stresses. Doctors forget, however, that training is similar to some other high-intensity jobs. Go complain about it to someone in the military, or a new lawyer – both work as many hours, under tons of pressure, and one with less earning potential and with threats to their life, and the other without the job security we gain as doctors.
Instead of Wellness Classes, however, wellness should be at the hospital and part of the job. Doctors should be offered appropriate respect from nurses and advanced practice providers (not always a problem, of course, but too frequently a cause of distress). We should respect them back (!) and develop healthy at-work relationships.
We are unique and give ourselves to our work, our patients and the hospital. We have unique pressures and should have our own spaces to interact (no different than the many nursing conference rooms). Food and healthy snacks should be available (and free/cheap). A workout space should be provided. And finally, and most importantly, staff with abusive attitudes shouldn’t be tolerated. Those things aren’t brought up during “wellness” meetings, but would do far more good than “come in and be lectured on working out in your free time.”