Wellness Tools That Drive Change and Foster Healthier Work Environments
In this workshop, we will address the multifaceted challenge of physician burnout with a nuanced perspective. Acknowledging the inadequacy of one-size-fits-all solutions, our multifaceted approach will focus on enhancing existing resilience while providing practical tools that allow attendees to make changes at all levels. Divided into three parts, the workshop will begin by exploring the latest data on stress and equipping attendees with the skills to teach these new concepts to leaners. Part two will focus on reprioritizing professional goals and tasks, emphasizing the importance of work-life balance and achievable objectives. Finally, in part three, participants will gain valuable insights into implementing sustainable systems changes within their workplaces.
Presenters:
- Annahieta Kalantari, DO, MEd
- Arlene S. Chung, MD, MACM, FACEP
- Nicole Battaglioli, MD, MHPE
- Al'ai Alvarez, MD
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Annahieta Kalantari, DO, FACEP
Penn State University/Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
Annahieta Kalantari, DO, MEd FACEP, FACOEP, is an associate professor, Vice Chair of Education, Medical Education Fellowship Director, and board-certified Emergency Medicine physician practicing in Hershey, PA. She is an internationally known speaker and author. She is also the recipient of multiple teaching and speaking awards. Her clinical talks focus on the area of infectious disease but she is most passionate about medical education and physician well-being. She hopes to help transform the culture of medicine from a grin-and-bear-it society to one that holds self-care, physician wellness, and community at the center of its values.
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Arlene S. Chung, MD, MACM, FACEP
Vice Chair of Education
University of Vermont
Dr. Chung is the Vice Chair of Education and Program Director for the Maimonides Medical Center Emergency Medicine Residency Program and an Associate Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine at the State University of New York Downstate College of Medicine. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Council of Residency Directors in Emergency Medicine and the Board of Directors for the New York Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians. Dr. Chung was the recipient of the New York ACEP Advancing Emergency Care Award in 2018 and recognized as one of the original EMRA 45 Under 45 Young Physician Influencers in Emergency Medicine in 2019. She was honored nationally as the 2022 Residency Director of the Year by EMRA. As a nationally recognized speaker and educator, Dr. Chung has made advocating for physician wellness a central focus of her career through lectures, teaching, policy development, and creating sustainable solutions for the future. -
Nicole Battaglioli, MD, MHPE
Emory University
Nicole Battaglioli MD is the CEO and Founder of Komorebi Health. She is a board certified Emergency Medicine and Obesity Medicine physician. Dr Battaglioli has prioritized physician wellness throughout her career. She was an inaugural honoree of EMRA's "45 under 45" Influencers in Emergency Medicine. In 2019, she received an honorable mention in the Medical Economics Physician Writing Contest for her piece on postpartum depression. She is a staunch advocate for changing the medical licensing culture to remove invasive questions that deter physician's from seeking out the mental healthcare they need and deserve.
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Al'ai Alvarez, MD
SAEM Nominating Committee Member
Stanford Emergency Medicine
My long-term interest is to study the intersection of Medical Education, Process Improvement (Quality and Clinical Operations), Representation (Diversity), and Well-being (Inclusion/Belonging) through human-centered design. My academic and professional experience has provided me with an excellent background in understanding the drivers for professional fulfillment in medicine and its interplay on efficiencies of care, the culture of wellness, and personal resilience, as highlighted by Stanford WellMD’s Professional Fulfillment Model. Specifically, my work investigates the role of self-compassion and resilience in promoting belongingness and overcoming isolation and loneliness in medicine exacerbated by experiences of medical harm, vicarious trauma, implicit bias, microaggressions, and imposter phenomenon.
I graduated from the faculty fellowship at the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign, where I explored the role of mindfulness in resuscitations. Furthermore, I co-directed and organized the inaugural High-Performance Resuscitation Teams Summit in May 2022 in Chicago, IL, in collaboration with Mayo Clinic and the Mission Critical Teams Institute, to understand commonalities among high-performing teams in healthcare, aerospace, sports, military, special operations, and fire rescue.
As an attending EM physician, I served as the Assistant Medical Director on Quality Education and Clinical Operations at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Emergency Department (ED), the busiest ED in Northern California. This role offered me direct insight into drivers of burnout through inefficiencies in clinical practice and the need for a culture of wellness, especially in quality improvement and peer review. As an Associate Residency Program Director at the Stanford Emergency Medicine Residency Program (2015-2021), I led initiatives to enhance personal resilience while advocating for improving the clinical and learning environment to improve well-being and professional fulfillment.
Currently, I am the Director of Well-Being and co-chair of the Human Potential Team at Stanford Emergency Medicine. I also serve as the Stanford EM Physician Wellness Fellowship Director. As the chair of the Stanford WellMD Physician Wellness Forum, I lead monthly discussions to understand how better to optimize clinical practice environments to improve well-being and professional work-life balance.
As Chair of the SAEM Wellness Committee (2022- ), we are spearheading the “October is #StopTheStigmaEM month,” which has been the most extensive campaign for SAEM, mobilizing national organizations in EM and leveraging social media to increase awareness and support efforts to humanize physicians, prioritize mental health, and normalize receiving mental health support.
Given my disparate physician leadership and clinical experience, I offer a unique and valuable perspective in serving on the Nominations Committee. I aim to continue fostering collaboration, empowerment, and self-compassion in academic emergency medicine's learning and work environment. This includes finding ways to recognize the work of academic EM physicians and EM bound trainees.