Davis, R

Dossett, M

Kohatsu, W

Mehta, D

Nunley, W

Phillips, R

Yeh, G

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

English

PubMed

M Dossett

W Kohatsu

W Nunley

D Mehta

R Davis

R Phillips

G Yeh

Springer - Publisher Connector

ORAL PRESENTATION Open Access
OA15.01. Use of self-care habits among graduates
of the HEART program and association with
physician burnout
M Dossett1*, W Kohatsu2, W Nunley3, D Mehta4, R Davis1, R Phillips1, G Yeh1
From International Research Congress on Integrative Medicine and Health 2012
Portland, Oregon, USA. 15-18 May 2012
Purpose
Physician burnout is associated with decreased well-
being, loss of empathy, and reduced quality of patient
care. Despite high rates of burnout among physician
trainees, few studies have explored strategies to address
this problem. We examined the skills and habits asso-
ciated with decreased burnout among physicians who
participated in the Humanistic Elective in alternative
medicine, Activism, and Reflective Transformation
(HEART), an innovative fourth year medical student
elective teaching humanism, physician self-care, and
integrative medicine.
Methods
We conducted a cross-sectional survey of HEART
alumni from 2002-2009, collecting information on
demographics, medical training, self-care habits, burnout
(Maslach Burnout Inventory), mindfulness (Baer Mind-
fulness Questionnaire) and experience with the elective,
both quantitatively and qualitatively. We used descrip-
tive statistics to characterize the sample, grounded the-
ory to inform the qualitative analyses, and multivariable
linear regression to determine which self-care habits
were associated with reduced burnout.
Results
Of 168 eligible alumni, 122 (73%), completed the survey.
The majority were female (71%), age ≤35 (78%), and
trained in primary care specialties (67%). Forty-two per-
cent were residents in training. The majority of respon-
dents highly agreed that the elective helped them better
cope with stress during residency training (80%), taught
them self-care skills (75%), and improved their ability to
empathize and connect with patients (71%). Qualitative
analysis of the personal and professional impact of the
elective identified twelve common themes with self-care,
self-discovery, and collegial development/community
most frequently cited. Practice of self-care habits was
common in this cohort. After adjusting for age, gender,
and stage of training the self-care habits most associated
with reduced burnout were reflection (beta=3.7, p=0.02),
social support (beta=8.1, p=0.003), and mindfulness (1.5
points/std dev change, p=0.02).
Conclusion
The HEART curriculum promotes humanism and self-
care skills that may protect against physician burnout.
Incorporating aspects of this curriculum more broadly
into medical education may improve trainee well-being
and patient care.
Author details
1Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, USA. 2Santa Rosa Family
Medicine Residency, Santa Rosa, USA. 3CareOregon, Portland, USA.
4Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA.
Published: 12 June 2012
doi:10.1186/1472-6882-12-S1-O58
Cite this article as: Dossett et al.: OA15.01. Use of self-care habits
among graduates of the HEART program and association with physician
burnout. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2012 12(Suppl 1):
O58.
1Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, USA
Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
Dossett et al. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2012, 12(Suppl 1):O58
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/12/S1/O58
© 2012 Dossett et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


OA15.01. Use of self-care habits among graduates of the HEART program and association with physician burnout

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OA15.01. Use of self-care habits among graduates of the HEART program and association with physician burnout

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