Series Description

Creating a Culture of Well-Being at an Academic Health Center

Reports from various sources indicate that chronic stress and burnout is prevalent in the health professions, affecting over half of primary care practitioners and even more in several specialties. This trend may begin earlier with the observed decline in empathy during medical student and residency training and the alarming rates of burnout in medical and other students in the health professions. 

As educators, administrators and academic health leaders grapple with developing interventions to address these issues, evidence is emerging that programs aimed at fostering resilience and stress reduction such as mindfulness, reflective capacity and appreciate inquiry, also lead to increased empathy and improved well being. Furthermore, the AAMC, ACGME and other national organizations are working to improve the learning environment and facilitate the creation of a culture of well-being at academic health centers. 

The IAMSE 2017 Winter Web Seminar Series has an impressive panel of leaders who will share their expertise on trainee stress and burnout and curricular interventions that have been shown to address these issues. The series is designed to help faculty, course directors and administrators understand the issues and hear about successful approaches and innovations to improve the health and well-being of students, residents and faculty. We hope that this series will bring these serious issues to your awareness and provide you with possible solutions and ideas on how to move forward at your institution.

Webinar Description

Dr. Slavin will provide an overview of a multi-faceted initiative at Saint Louis University School of Medicine that is designed to enhance the mental health of pre-clinical medical students. He will describe the various components of the initiative, the mental health outcomes for students, and the resilience and mindfulness curriculum that is taught to the students.

Speaker

Stuart Slavin, MD, MEd
Associate Dean for Curriculum and Professor of Pediatrics

A graduate of Saint Louis University School of Medicine, Dr. Slavin completed his residency training in pediatrics at UCLA and then served as a faculty member there for 17 years before returning to Saint Louis. At UCLA, Dr. Slavin was a leader in both interdisciplinary and pediatric education. He was cofounder of the Doctoring course at UCLA, an innovative, longitudinal, case-based course that has served as a model for curricular change across the U.S. He also served as Vice-Chair for Education in the Department of Pediatrics and as the pediatric residency director and pediatric clerkship director for more than a decade. In addition to his administrative duties at Saint Louis University, Dr. Slavin teaches actively in the undergraduate medical curriculum and is director of four courses.