Women physicians see less burnout, more work fulfillment from virtual coaching program
Key takeaways:
- Burnout rates for participants decreased after consistent virtual coaching attendance.
- Virtual physician coaching programs improved personal gratification and self-compassion.
Participation in a virtual coaching program led to a decrease in reported burnout among a cohort of women physicians, according to study results published in BMC Psychology.
Researchers additionally identified self-compassion and personal fulfillment among reported improvements.
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Addressing a need
“Coaching has been demonstrated to be an effective physician wellness intervention,” Sunny Smith, MD, founder and CEO of Empowering Women Physicians, and colleagues wrote. “However, this evidence-based intervention has not yet been widely adopted in the physician community. Documentation and implementation research of interventions to address physician burnout in real-world settings is much needed.”
Smith and colleagues held an 8-week virtual coaching program — run by physicians who are certified coaches through The Life Coach School and delivered by Empowering Women Physicians — that included individual, small group and large group sessions.
There were eight individual sessions and three group sessions available each week. Participants filled out two surveys before and after completion of the program based on the Stanford Professional Fulfillment Inventory on fulfillment and burnout and the Clinician Self-Valuation tool.
Survey results
Overall, 61.1% of participants completed both surveys, accounting for women physicians across 40 states and three international physicians.
According to the authors, the proportion of participants reporting significant professional fulfillment was 27.4% at baseline vs. 68.2% at 8 weeks (P < .0001). Further results showed the program resulted in an increase in the professional fulfillment mean score from 14.52 (standard deviation [SD], 4.5) to 18.47 (SD, 3.7; P < .001), indicating improved worth, satisfaction and ability to deal with difficult work situations.
Moreover, the proportion of participants reporting burnout at baseline was 77.1%, and this percentage dropped to 33.3% at 8 weeks (P < .0001). This corresponded to a decrease in mean burnout scores from 20.52 (SD, 9) to 11.14 (SD, 7.89; P < .001).
Of note, the proportion of participants with a compassionate self-improvement perspective, or a self-valuation score of 9 or higher, increased from 17.9% at baseline to 64% at 8 weeks (P < .0001).
“Virtual coaching programs offered by independent entities are a viable and effective option to begin to address physician distress,” Smith and colleagues wrote. “Coaching can help counteract some of the learned helplessness and start to help [physicians] identify areas in which they do have choice, agency and self-efficacy.”