M. E. Hadley1, A. Coughlan1, J. G. Chipman1, C. J. Tignanelli1,2,3 1University Of Minnesota,Department Of Surgery,Minneapolis, MN, USA 2University Of Minnesota,Institute For Health Informatics,Minneapolis, MN, USA 3North Memorial Health Hospital,Department Of Surgery,Minneapolis, MN, USA
Introduction:
Burnout is a public health crisis that affects over 50% of healthcare providers and results in adverse patient outcomes, poor physician job satisfaction, depersonalization, and increased rates of depression, substance abuse, and physician suicide. Our institution developed a unique Department of Surgery wellness program to combat this issue, reduce stress, and promote wellbeing. The aim of this study was to evaluate user interaction with our program vis-à-vis a monthly newsletter as a dissemination tool.
Methods:
Our wellness program is sponsored by the Department of Surgery Wellness Committee and includes the following regular activities: chair yoga, wellness walks, photography club, craft lunch, visiting seasonal farmers market and music on the plaza, sitcom break, and themed potlucks. Additionally, it includes wellness insights from faculty and opportunities to participate in University of Minnesota fundraisers such as the annual Turtle Derby or Chainbreaker events. A regular wellness newsletter was developed to disseminate this program which is sent to Department of Surgery housestaff, faculty, and staff, with approximately 350 subscribers. Mailchimp® (marketing automation platform, Atlanta, GA) was used to evaluate subscriber interaction with the newsletter from April, 2017 – July, 2018. Interactions were defined as the number of subscribers opening each newsletter and the number of subscribers who clicked on linked content within the newsletter. The Mailchimp® industry average for health and fitness newsletters was used a reference standard.
Results:
The average number of subscribers who opened the newsletter each month was 178, or 51% compared to the industry average of 16% (Table 1). There was an average of 18 subscribers clicking content per newsletter. Thus, of the people who received the newsletter, 5% of subscribers opened and then clicked for further content. This is higher than the industry average of 2%. All employee types equally opened the newsletter; however, staff were most likely to click individual content within each newsletter.
Conclusion:
A wellness newsletter is an effective tool to disseminate a wellness program within a Department of Surgery and is interacted with more than the industry average. Future directions should focus on identifying ways to further improve interaction with and better integrate surgical wellness programs for faculty and housestaff. A wellness newsletter may be an important way to reach healthcare workers who are at risk for burnout.
