A Long-Distance Pre-Residency Well-Being Preparedness Curriculum for Emergency Medicine Interns

Background Burnout is ubiquitous in residency training, and has been associated with a host of negative professional and personal ramifications. Well-being is more than just the absence of burnout; it allows physicians to develop their full potential across personal and work-life domains. Education in these domains is vital for trainees entering residency. The period between “Match Day” and intern orientation presents a novel opportunity to implement a well-being curriculum, as students may be more engaged with future residency faculty as their professional identities evolve from generalist medical student to specialty-specific physician. Purpose To develop and evaluate a long-distance, asynchronous curriculum designed to improve well-being preparedness prior to the start of intern year. Methods In 2019, students who matched at the LAC+USC or OHSU emergency medicine residency programs were enrolled. The multimodal curriculum was developed using Kern’s 6-step approach. The Kirkpatrick Model was used for evaluation group interviews conducted during orientation and 1-on-1 interviews conducted six months later. A thematic analysis was performed on the data. Results Five themes emerged. Students appreciated the asynchronous structure of the curriculum and were mostly supportive of the timing. Students valued actionable and personalized curricular content. Students appreciated the residency program’s commitment to well-being. Despite the curriculum, imposterism and burnout were prevalent during intern year. Support networks of family, friends, and co-residents were important in promoting well-being. Discussion Learners were satisfied with the novel curriculum. Future iterations should target individualization, crowdsource recommendations from local residents and faculty, emphasize support networks, and consider resilience training.