Residency

Study sheds light on residents’ coping strategies

Residency Program Insider, September 28, 2010

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Residency is stressful, but many training programs have yet to develop support to help residents manage their stress and prevent burnout. A new study focuses on how internal medicine residents cope with their stress in hopes that findings can inform design and implementation of supportive interventions.

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, surveyed internal medicine residents, who participated in monthly support groups. Common themes across the support groups include:

  • Understanding the roles and responsibilities of residents
  • Developing an identity of resident and doctor
  • Building professional confidence
  • Cognitive and behavioral responses to stress
  • Concerns about flaws in local and national healthcare training and delivery systems


Residents pointed to peer relationships as the most critical support throughout their residency.

For more on the study, please see the September issue of Medical Education.
 



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