An Interdepartmental Approach to Wellness Through Community Philanthropy

Resident physicians are a group especially vulnerable to burnout. Depersonalization is one of the main domains of burnout. We hypothesized that by fostering a sense of community to address feelings of depersonalization we could decrease burnout. We aimed to achieve this by improving collegiality among residents by asking them to work together toward a common goal, and by increasing resident engagement with their community by providing extramural philanthropic opportunities. The Neurology, Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine departments have collaborated to plan three interdepartmental philanthropic events over the course of the year. The first of these was a dinner hosted by residents for families staying at the Ronald McDonald House. A clothing drive and trail clean-up are also planned.