643: Caring for Clinicians: A Wellness Intervention for Physicians in a Pain Medicine Training Program

Topic: Education, Societal Impact, and Others
Subtopic: Education of pain care

Background and Aims: Burnout is relevant to medical settings due to its high global prevalence among physicians (1), association with medical error (2), and its personal and systemic costs (3, 4). US pain physicians have experienced increasing levels of burnout since the COVID-19 pandemic (5). To combat this trend, a wellness program was developed and implemented in an ACGME-accredited pain fellowship. Over the course of the training year, fellows participate in scheduled sessions designed to cultivate a sense of community, increase awareness of well-being threats, and develop skills to enhance resilience and minimize burnout. Analysis of program impact is presented in the current poster.

Methods: Physicians enrolled in a 1-year Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited pain medicine fellowship training program participated in regularly scheduled wellness sessions throughout the academic year. A survey that evaluates professional fulfillment, emotional exhaustion, and interpersonal disengagement were administered at the first and final sessions to facilitate assessing the impact of the intervention. A total of 11 participants across 2 fellowship cohorts completed the surveys, representing a 100% response rate.

Results: One-tailed t-tests were performed comparing pre to post scores for each subscale, with each test returning statistically significant findings (p < 0.05). Effect sizes (Cohen's d) were moderately large (0.75 – 0.79). Specific subscale values were as follows: Professional Fulfillment (p = 0.0046, d = 0.75); Emotional Exhaustion (p = 0.0112, d = 0.76); and Interpersonal Disengagement (p = 0.0420, d = 0.79). Additional analyses may be included in the final poster if time allows.

Conclusions: The wellness program evaluated in this study demonstrates the potential benefit of a system-level intervention designed to promote personal level resilience. This impact is important as it presents a viable pathway to minimize burnout among clinicians. Although this project had a relatively small sample size, it is nonetheless noteworthy due to the moderately large effect sizes. The discussion section will review the study's limitations, propose directions for future research, and discuss strategies for implementation of wellness education into medical training programs.

References: 1. Xin Shen, Hongbin Xu, Jing Feng, Jun Ye, Zuxun Lu, Yong Gan, The global prevalence of burnout among general practitioners: a systematic review and meta-analysis, Family Practice, Volume 39, Issue 5, October 2022, Pages 943–950, https://doi.org/10.1093/fampra/cmab180

2. Shanafelt TD, Balch CM, Bechamps G, et al. Burnout and medical errors among American surgeons. Ann Surg 2010;251:995-1000.

3. Williams ES, Rathert C, Buttigieg SC. The Personal and Professional Consequences of Physician Burnout: A Systematic Review of the Literature. Medical Care Research and Review. 2019;77(5):371-386. Doi:10.1177/1077558719856787

4. Shasha Han, Tait D. Shanafelt, Christine A. Sinsky, et al. Estimating the Attributable Cost of Physician Burnout in the United States. Ann Intern Med.2019;170:784-790. [Epub 28 May 2019]. Doi:10.7326/M18-1422

5. Abd-Elsayed, Alaa, et al. “Interventional Pain Physician Burnout During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey from the American Society of Pain and Neuroscience.” Current Pain and Headache Reports [New York], vol. 27, no. 8, 2023, pp. 259–67, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-023-01121-6.

Presenting Author: Ravi Prasad, PhD
Submitting Author: Ravi Prasad

Senior Author: Ravi Prasad, PhD

IASP 2026 Global Year theme of Neuropathic Pain: No

• Dan Bruns: PsyD - Health Psychology Associates, P.C
• Alexander Bruns: MS - Health Psychology Associates, P.C.