Rates of burnout, mental illness, and suicide are disproportionately elevated among physicians, and surgical specialists, including otolaryngologists, are at even higher risk for professional burnout. These trends have been identified at both the trainee and attending level. To combat resident burnout, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Council of Review Committee Residents (CRCR) designed the Back to Bedside Initiative, the goals of which are to foster meaning in the learning environment and to help trainees to engage more deeply with patients. Two funded Back to Bedside proposals involve otolaryngology training programs. Herein, we discuss these 2 approaches in an effort to foster additional novel resident wellness initiatives and awareness thereof across our subspecialty.
Keywords: ACGME; Back to Bedside; burnout; physician mental health; physician wellness; resident wellness; resilience.