Wellness and resiliency

Retreats

Each academic year, the program sponsors separate retreats for each residency class. The retreats are held off site and all residents from the class are relieved from their duties for 2 nights. These retreats are a fun, relaxing, way for the residents to reflect on their past experiences and future goals. Retreat topics include career development, leadership, professionalism, residents as teachers, and team building.*

Social life

The strength of our program lies in the people who comprise it. Our pediatric residents are a very close-knit group. In addition to working well with each other, our residents also genuinely like one another and have fun! The residents love to get together outside of work to enjoy good food and good company. Often, residents involve their own families in resident gatherings as well. The residents spend a lot of time together, both in and out of the hospital, and over the three years of residency, become part of each other's families.

Park Ridge is a northern suburb of Chicago. Many of our residents live in the city, while some choose to be located near the hospital. Our residents are often starting or already have families of their own and the program is quite supportive of their ability to do so. Our institution has an affiliation with a local daycare facility which many of our residents utilize. We cater to the unique needs of residents and realize that these needs may change as a resident proceeds through training.*

Wellness month

As a program, we continue to focus on wellness and resilience to create well-rounded, healthy physicians and decrease burn out. Every February, program leadership hosts a wellness month for the residents in which there are activities like yoga, meditation, crafts, and social events to promote community and well-being. Divisions within the department of pediatrics provide free meals and fun raffle prizes for residents to win. We consistently find that wellness month has increased the resident’s sense of connectedness to the program, the faculty, and one another. This year we are hosting a wellness hour once per month during noon lecture. The hour is planned by our resident clinic cohorts as well as the chief residents in order to provide more regularly scheduled wellness time throughout the year.

Resident debriefings

We understand that dealing with loss as a pediatrician can be especially difficult. To better support our residents, we offer monthly debriefing sessions led by our wonderful chaplain. These debriefing sessions provide a safe and understanding venue for our residents to share their thoughts and feelings with one another and receive guidance on how to cope with the challenges we face as physicians. The sessions give our residents an opportunity to both celebrate our wins and mourn our losses as a team.

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

The EAP is a confidential service available to all residents at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital that specializes in helping with all types of issues including depression/anxiety, stress management, parenting skills, and/or coping skills. Our program coordinates a voluntary session for each resident and encourages that residents take advantage of this additional support system to maintain a healthy and happy residency experience. Residents have protected time for EAP appointments and we work to make sure schedules accommodate any follow up support needed.