Resident Life

Our program boasts a culture where residents’ wellbeing is a top priority. We understand the stress of training puts residents at a high risk for burn out.  We also acknowledge that emotional wellness is linked to providing high quality and compassionate care.  Our small family friendly environment is supportive and inclusive. Our comprehensive wellness curriculum was developed to address both resident and faculty wellness. We focus on how to build resilience and promote healthy lifestyles.

Highlights of our wellness curriculum include:

• Atlantic Health System Resident Self-care Coaching program which offers free monthly individualized coaching sessions to develop and implement a personal self-care plan
• Wellness sessions are incorporated into our academic half day series throughout the year devoted to:
  • Story slam
  • Poetry and film
  • Medical narrative writing
  • Parallel charts
  • Stress management (using meditation and yoga)
  • Nutrition and exercise
  • Debriefing after a crisis or challenging situation
• Dedicated self-care sessions during the ambulatory block; two ½ day sessions are protected time for self-care during a 2 week block. Residents do not cover any clinical services and may use this time for personal appointments, rest or exercise.
• Program wide social events

Our program, department and institution are firmly aligned to promote diversity and strive for an inclusive health care environment where everyone is welcomed and treated the same regardless of sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and expression, race, ethnicity, immigration status, socioeconomic background, disability and age. 

Several efforts are underway to improve our efforts to recruit and retain residents from groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in medicine. Our faculty have all undergone implicit bias training to meet this goal. Our institution has implemented many policies and provide a wide range of opportunities, programs and events to support diversity, inclusion and belonging >