Well-being workshop: simple acts of care

Abstract

Background: Well-being encompasses a constellation of multiple interdependent factors influenced by our personal and professional lives. It has a reciprocal relationship with burnout, a phenomenon detrimental to physicians, students and patients alike. Despite this, well-being is not a topic routinely integrated into undergraduate medical and nursing curricula. Local demand and increased global attention provided an impetus to create and deliver an 'Introduction to well-being' workshop. Our aim was to start the well-being conversation early in the professional journeys of students, and to provide strategies to gain and maintain well-being throughout their careers.

Methods: We developed a practical, interprofessional well-being workshop for first-year medical and nursing students. Over six afternoons, 251 students in groups of 12-15 rotated through our three session, interactive workshop focusing on the interrelated subjects of self care, empathy and communication. On completion of the workshop, written evaluation and take-home messages were collected and thematically analysed.

Results: The interprofessional aspect of the workshop and the practical tools imparted were positively evaluated. Take-home messages highlighted the need to integrate well-being into the curricula, particularly the self-care aspect. Students concluded that 'simple acts of care' to self and to others were essential for the maintenance and improvement of well-being.

Conclusion: Interprofessional early year well-being workshops, designed to promote open discussion around the significance of self care, empathy and communication, and to provide practical advice for well-being, were felt to be beneficial by first-year nursing and medical students. Recognising the importance of simple acts of care is likely to advantage not only individuals but also the culture that they shape. Local demand and increased global attention provided impetus to create and deliver an 'Introduction to well-being' workshop.