Viewpoints

Reflections from the AMA Resident and Fellows Section Annual Meeting

By Garrett Lowe, MD and Karen L. Connolly, MD

The American Medical Association (AMA) held its annual meeting of the Resident and Fellows Section (RFS) June 4-6 in Chicago, Illinois. During that meeting, Dr. Garrett Lowe (delegate), and Dr. Karen Connolly (alternate delegate) attended as representatives of the ACMS in the RFS to participate in discussions and vote on AMA RFS governance and policy.

First, we would like to say thank you for the opportunity to represent the ACMS at the AMA RFS meeting. During the meeting, we met young AMA leaders within various areas of medicine. During informal and formal discussions, we found that many of our peers in different specialty areas face similar struggles as we foresee for the specialty of Mohs surgery. Additionally, several common challenges faced by residents and fellows were discussed.

Having representation from the ACMS allows us to share with the section some of the needs, challenges, and strengths of our fellowship and our field. During the meeting, a major focus of the RFS was resident and fellow wellness. This issue is relevant to all physicians, and fostering a pattern of wellness and good self-care habits early in our careers will help ensure the longevity of our ability to practice. While our fellowship is typically between 1 to 2 years, practice habits are established that can follow us through our careers. By promoting well-being and recognizing stress and fatigue in fellows, program directors and faculty can encourage healthy lifestyles and maximize productivity for the healthcare team. The ACGME will be hosting a conference in November 2015 specifically focusing on physician well-being and seeking solutions and interventions for the very common issues of physician stress and burnout.

There is extensive evidence showing that people with higher levels of well-being perform better. And it’s not just because tired, anxious, or unfit trainees perform poorly. There are gains to be made at the top as well. Employees with higher levels of well-being actually become more positive, focused, energetic, resilient and resourceful in the way they work. These positive effects have been found to produce significant performance gains on various measures. From productivity to resilience, engagement and effort, higher levels of well-being consistently predict higher levels of performance.

The field of Mohs micrographic surgery and dermatologic oncology continues to grow and mature. The future of the specialty is bright, and will one day lie in the hands of those that we train today. By encouraging and fostering healthy habits in our residents and fellows now, we can hopefully play a small part in helping each of them be his/her best self at home, in the community, and at work.