Dear students! This week is exceptional for all emergency medicine professionals. EMERGENCY MEDICINE WELLNESS WEEK (EMWW).
EMWW is created by ACEP to remind emergency physicians and their colleagues “we are human, we should take care of ourselves, self-renew, enjoy life.”
It is also crucial for medical students. Your health is most important! Taking care of yourselves is your priority. Therefore, eat well, sleep well and be physically active while you are in medical school. Learn healthy lifestyle now and apply it.
If you do not know and apply healthy lifestyles, how you can stay healthy, and more importantly, how you can convince your patients to change their lifestyle.
ACEP has many recommendations
Diet
Increase healthy food intake – such as fruits, nuts, vegetables, grains, water
Eat breakfast
Drink less alcohol and/or coffee
Lose 1 pound or 0.5 kilogram – Hint: don’t forget to track your progress and report at the end of EM Wellness Week
Try a new and fun healthy food
Exercise
Keep track of steps (or miles) with set pre-determined daily goal
Try new type of exercise you might enjoy – yoga, Zumba, circuit training, spin, a new sport – Hint: Some local gyms, yoga studios or sports classes will let you try their service for a 1-week trial in conjunction with EM Wellness Week
Self-monitor your personal wellness
Sleep
Sleep in blocks of at least 3 to 4 hours, with 1 or 2 blocks per 24-hour period to get 7 to 8 hours of sleep
Work with your scheduler to initiate rotating shifts in a clockwise manner for scheduling caregivers that work a variety of shift times
Set the alarm to GO TO bed
Create a better sleep environment (such as a quiet and cool room, white noise, room-darkening shades, sign on the door that says “day sleeper”)
Sleep with your partner
Stop smoking
Others
Write a letter to someone you want to thank, or offer an apology, then personally deliver the letter
Write a simple thank you note to someone
Have dinner with your family or friend(s) and turn off all electronic devices during the meal
Surprise call or visit someone you care about and could like to reconnect with, “if only you had time.”
Spirituality
Reconnect with places or people that inspire you spiritually
Spiritual involvement with your faith
Learn to meditate: use online resources or take a class
Take mindfulness training – https://www.fammed.wisc.edu/mindfulness
Community
Volunteer to do something for which you have a passion
Find something outside patient care where you can recharge and recuperate
Write down something you are grateful for each morning
Improve the work environment
Structure an action at work to improve the work environment in the trenches
Participate in conflict resolution training
Develop negotiation skills
Decrease litigation stress
Decrease burnout
Make a connection to your purpose in caring for patients.
Tap into the power and endurance associated with this connection.
Plan and set a date for international volunteer trip with an opportunity to “give back.”
Each day write out one reason you chose Emergency Medicine as your career
Initiate a healthy boundary between work and non-work life area
Reach out to a family member or friend with an “ask” for support
Create focus on work activities that provide the most meaning
Develop Leadership Skills
Read a book on leadership
Learn a new leadership tactic
Take a step to move your career forward
Reach out to someone that will help you advance your career – make an appointment with a mentor, coach or career counselor
Agree to mentor someone who can benefit from your coaching or mentorship
Support another caregiver
Other ways to enhance your career
Do self-monitoring on personal wellness (MBI, Jefferson Empathy Scale, Quality of Life Survey)
Retirement planning
Read this amazing source of wellness for emergency physicians.
Click to reach more resources by ACEP.
