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Long School of Medicine

Programs and Services

Graduate Medical Education

For Residents and Fellows

Students smiling at wellness event

The Office of Graduate Medical Education is committed to ensuring that residents and fellows remain physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy while completing their training program. Residency can be an inherently stressful time, and it is important to know about resources so you can take care of yourself to ensure you get the most out of your educational experience.

The philosophic underpinnings of the UT Health SA program are based on Well-Being and Resilience. Therefore, the program assists with prevention, assessment and early intervention for a wide range of issues beyond being part of the remediation process.

 

The GME Wellness Center offers:

  • Extended office hours to accommodate the residents’ work schedules, especially beneficial to PGY-1 residents who are not yet used to the heavier workloads and higher stress levels, and are learning the culture and functioning of their residency programs.

  • Distance counseling from the convenience of their homes or call-rooms, saving them time while they get familiar to their new campus/city.

  • Clinical offices designed with separate access doors so residents can avoid passing through the GME office.

  • Experienced mental health providers who will incorporate the model proposed by our Wellness Mosaic including the following dimensions:

    1. Community Building/Play

    2. Peer-to-peer Mentoring

    3. Wellness Curriculum and Lecture Series

    4. Ethics Discussions

    5. Assessment and Identification of isolated and at risk residents

    6. Emphasis in Values

    7. System Issues Review

      These dimensions were developed, among other things, to address underlying causes of burnout as proposed by Maslach which include issues with workloads, lack of control, lack of community, conflict in values, balance and fairness, and insufficient rewards/ financial issues.

  • Referrals to in-house psychiatric services when needed.

  • Visits are not reportable to the state board of medicine unless in the cases outlined in our Informed Consent.

  • Wellness program counselors are available to participate in orientations, lectures, resident retreats, and program director workshops.

  • Residents can self-refer without notifying their programs, all records are confidential (following ethical guidelines imposed by the relevant governing bodies)

  • Residents can agree to an informed consent for consultation between the Wellness program and their program director when deemed beneficial.

  • General analytics will be tracked to inform program development, without disclosing information about specific cases.

  • Trends and general information about the program will be reported and discussed with the Vice-Dean for GME, Director of Wellness for GME, and other relevant staff members to ensure the optimal functioning of the program. Trends will be reported to the institution as a whole.

  • Wellness newsletter, distributed to all residents.

  • High accessibility and information about our services easily available through our wellness site, newsletter, program directors, coordinators and wellness champions.

  • and completely anonymous contact with our mental health professionals.

  • Wellness Lounge, also known as the University Hospital Resident Lounge, is located in room R1-F21U on the first floor of the Rio Tower.