ACEM Regional Wellbeing Champions

Kia ora kōtou,

I am an emergency physician in Tauranga, New Zealand. Our people are our biggest assets in healthcare and the teams we work in are the centre of all that we do.

Caring for these teams and each other is essential – prioritising our own wellbeing is key to ensure that not only are we equipped to provide the best patient care possible but – equally importantly – that we thrive, both at work and in our lives away from work.

I am really excited to be one of the Regional Wellbeing Champions this year and look forward to connecting and collaborating with ED teams across New Zealand and Australia.

Ngā mihi nui.

The major reason we in healthcare come to work is to ensure high-quality care can be provided for patients and whānau. High-quality care in EDs is safe, timely, effective, equitable, efficient, and patient-focused. As well, high-quality care is integrated within the overall health system and provided by staff whose wellbeing is considered vital to the provision of that care.

I am keen to contribute to that delivery of that care by advocating for the wellbeing of staff in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand emergency care and beyond, especially throughout our Pacific Island neighbourhood. As well as attending to personal and workplace culture factors, system factors that are barriers to workplace wellbeing must be addressed. It is fantastic that the ACEM champion roles have been established as a means to contribute.

I studied at Harvard Medical School (MD,1996) and was in the first group of trainees at the Harvard Emergency Medicine Residency Program (1996-2000). In 2014, I moved to New Plymouth, New Zealand. For years I have enjoyed running, rowing, reading, and playing guitar. My three daughters are ages 11, 16, and 22 and soon I will become a grandfather.

In 2015, my younger brother in America was suddenly killed by an intoxicated driver while cycling. The driver was also taking opioids. This tragedy heightened my interest in personal wellbeing (including mental health) for those of us in emergency medicine. I felt fortunate to have some background in mindfulness as well as a focus on my physical health. Employee assistance program counselling was also useful. My colleagues and I organised Humanity: a Taranaki Emergency Medicine conference for February of 2021, with 91 attendees. This conference renewed my love and appreciation for EM.

Wellbeing has been around for many years, but with the stressors of recent times, it’s becoming more and more relevant to our daily practice. We are working in an increasingly challenging, high pressure environment. Whether it’s an unexpected bad outcome in a patient, the stresses of training, or commitments in our lives outside of our jobs, none of these operate in isolation from each other, and it’s important we recognise this. There are only a handful of other sectors where people are exposed to the level of trauma that ED staff deal with and it’s important that we develop the right tools, strategies and networks to help us through difficult times. We need to make sure we have happy and healthy people. A strong wellbeing program is important and I’m excited to be a Wellbeing Champion, and progress and advocate in this area.

I am an Emergency Physician in Sydney. I believe that wellbeing at work is crucial across all levels of experience. I believe that practicing and promoting wellbeing is a skill that requires as much attention of any facet of our training, and I encourage myself to think of it not as a soft skill, but as one that is as robust and important in my role as learning to lead a trauma team or to insert a chest drain. I am really interested in the science behind how civility, kindness and wellbeing practiced by individuals and organisations impacts patient care. I am very excited to be involved in this role with ACEM, and it is wonderful to see the College giving weight to this important topic.

Wellbeing is a serious issue. Mental health issues (including suicide) are disproportionately common in medics.

Added to this, there is strong evidence that improving healthcare staff wellbeing, positively impacts on patient outcomes.

But paradoxically, there is often a negative response when wellbeing is mentioned – it’s a cult, a movement, a waste of time and money, a nonsense promoting yoga and meditation.

We need to address the cultural, physical and psychological issues that impair our wellbeing. But we also need to reset the perceptions of wellbeing and inform the sceptics better. Then we and our patients will be better off.

Doctor wellbeing is a topic close to my heart. I have been exposed to many scenarios of struggle in medicine and in emergency medicine, as well as some sad tragedies. Burnout, moral injury and mental health struggles are commonplace in our arena of providing emergency care, but are still hard to address in the face of more urgent, yet, ironically, associated issues such as staffing and access block. Prioritising self-care and looking after our own physical, psychological and social wellbeing can be incredibly hard to achieve in many medical workplaces. I’m excited by being in this regional role as I would like to be able to support and promote the conversation about wellbeing, kindness and humanity in health care. I also look forward to learning about where good workplace culture is being practiced against the odds, and being able to support and connect other like-minded FACEMs and wellbeing advocates on this difficult but important journey.

I’m an emergency physician at the QEII Hospital in Brisbane. I’m the medical lead of our multi-disciplinary ED Wellness Interest Group. I’m the co-founder of Wellness, Resilience and Performance in Emergency Medicine (wrapem.org). I’m a proud Irish Expat, wife to an affable surgeon and mum to a voracious toddler.

It’s my strong belief that staff wellbeing is inextricably linked to performance. And that this concept of ‘optimal performance’ applies not only to the quality of our patient care, but also to the quality of our lives outside of the workplace too.

This is my first role with ACEM. It took me a little while to get here. I’m here now because there is a real opportunity for FACEMs and trainees to own the advocacy space in ED workforce and wellbeing. I hope to bring some of what I have learned so far to the role of ACEM Regional Wellbeing Champion.

As a trainee and mother of one (soon to be two), I feel firsthand how hard it can be to find that elusive sense of wellbeing. As emergency healthcare workers, we so often walk the line between compassion and dedication in stressful situations, and becoming burnt out and cynical.

Historically in medicine, we have been told to be mindful of our wellbeing, to exercise and make sure we get sleep, but things rarely change on a systematic level.

For years I have strived to promote wellbeing both on a personal level and to my individual workplaces; I am enthusiastic by the initiatives ACEM are taking to improve wellbeing on a systematic level, and delighted to have an opportunity to contribute.

The role of ACEM Regional Wellbeing Champion is important to me because it brings the resources and support of the College into the dialogue around staff wellbeing that is occurring at emergency departments.

It will help to promote wellbeing as a professional responsibility and as an important component of achieving improved performance in the systems in which we work.

The role enables networking across state borders, and across the Tasman, to share ideas and keep a broad perspective on the topic.

You can’t pour from an empty cup. Now more than ever we need to focus on our wellbeing. 

In taking up the role of wellbeing champion I hope that I can remind others of the importance of self-care, as well as help navigate the barriers that prevent us from working on our wellbeing.

 

I’m delighted to take up the ACEM role of Wellbeing Champion for Tasmania and to portfolio this role at department and hospital level locally.
       
Why is this important to me? Several years ago, I attended the ACEM conference and noted the final day for the first time was entirely devoted to “wellbeing” activities. I was recently post-fellowship and feeling a little “spat out” the other end. I began to seriously explore and question what is workplace “wellbeing”? What does it look like? How do we measure it? Why does it matter?

Encouraged by international literature and experience, I hope to we can start to define, collaborate, measure and implement evidence-based strategies at organisation, department and individual level to support emergency physicians and trainees achieve career satisfaction and longevity. I value my colleagues and the important work they do. Ultimately the wellbeing of our workforce matters because it has potential to impact the quality of patient care.

Hi! My name is Tim and I’m currently working as an Emergency Registrar at the Royal Hobart Hospital. The emergency department can be a bustling, fast-paced, chaotic mix of extreme highs and extreme lows. This can have a significant (and sometimes unnoticed!) impact on shaping who we are as clinicians - both the good and the bad. Compared with other high-stakes professions, medicine has historically lagged in its consideration of personal wellbeing and self-care. However, I feel emergency medicine as a sub-group is making real efforts to change the culture and reduce this gap. I’m excited to work within this role to contribute to this evolving space!

I am keen to be involved with ACEM Wellbeing because it is an area we need to focus on. FACEMs and ED staff across Australia and New Zealand are under such pressure in so many ways.

As well as advocating for system change, it makes sense to focus also on individual resilience and wellbeing strategies. Many other industries incorporate formal wellbeing strategies, so why not us?

From my own experience with mindfulness I know that this “stuff” works to keep me enjoying my work as a clinician, educator and FACEM.

I’m an emergency physician at University Hospital Geelong and Ballarat Base Hospital. I have a special interest in medical education, wellness and practitioner wellbeing, as well as wilderness and adventure medicine.

Mentorship and Practitioner Wellbeing
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on the hospital staff and the wider community. I have implemented wellness challenges and programs in my emergency department, which has demonstrated benefit to staff morale and stress levels. I also provide formal staff mentorship and peer support.

Adventure and Wilderness Medicine
I love the outdoors and spend a lot of my free time hiking, camping, travelling and maintaining my own personal fitness. I am fortunate enough to be able to combine my adventure interests with my medical skills whilst attending Australian and international sporting events and overseas adventure travel. My highlights so far have been working at the Commonwealth Games and hiking the Kokoda Track over Anzac Day.

I’ve been interested in wellbeing for a long time but I recognise there is only so much I can do on my own. I can share a smile with a tired colleague, I can buy coffees for the day shift, I can check in with the team after a hard day but I am just one person.

Being a wellbeing champion means learning from others, advocating not just for patient-centered care, but also for carer-centred care. It means creating a culture in which we can ask for help and not be seen as weak. It means making a difference.


 

As a Wellbeing Champion for WA, I hope that I can learn more about what wellbeing means to trainees and FACEMs throughout the region. Wellbeing means something different to each of us which is what makes this such an interesting and exciting role. I hope that I can connect with trainees whilst helping to establish a supportive network that shares experiences, cups of tea (English Breakfast for me! White, no sugar!) and grows to understand the importance of wellbeing to sustainable careers in emergency medicine. There are so many great initiatives Australasia-wide in the 'Wellbeing Arena' and I would like to keep pushing those boundaries so that wellbeing is front and centre, in order to allow trainees and FACEMs to continue to look after ourselves and those around us. Reach out any time. Keep smiling!