Fellow Well-Being

While fellowship is an incredible time for personal growth, professional development, and intellectual fulfillment, the emotional intensity and general demands of training can be draining. Recognizing the detrimental effect that burnout can have on job satisfaction and overall well-being, we established an ID Fellowship Well-Being Committee (WBC) in 2018 to enhance wellness among our fellows.1 The WBC, which is comprised of faculty and fellows at different stages of training, meets every other month to discuss interventions aimed at addressing four well-being “pillars.”

well being

Since the WBC was founded, interventions that have been introduced include:

  • Decreased number of Grand Rounds presentations required during 1st year of fellowship
  • Increased clinical support at our hospitals with attending-only services
  • A full-day 1st year fellow retreat in San Francisco with pager and service coverage
  • Twice yearly senior fellow dinner series
  • Reflective writing exercises
  • ID Division Grand Rounds well-being lecture
  • Increased number of fellow social events

These activities have been well-received by fellows so far, and the fellowship program continues to strive for improved trainee wellness at all levels.

    ID Pic 1

      ID Pic 2

     

    Committee Leadership

    Cristina Brickman

    Cristina Brickman, MD
    Co-chair, Faculty, Well-Being Committee
    [email protected]

    Lam

    ​​​​​​Phuong-Quang Lam, MD
    Co-chair, Fellow, Well-Being Committee
    [email protected]

    Wilson

    Geargin Wilson, MD
    Co-chair, Fellow, Well-Being Committee
    [email protected]

     

    1Budak JZ, Brickman CE, Abdoler EA, et al. Response to: Is Burnout Infectious? Understanding Drivers of Burnout and Job Satisfaction Among Academic Infectious Diseases Physicians. Open Forum Infect Dis. 2020 Apr 6;7(4):ofaa098. View Publication