Objective: The unrelenting turmoil of the COVID-19 pandemic has been especially hard on those in the healthcare field. This chronic stress has resulted in depleted compassion towards patients served and colleagues. Researchers have suggested that empathy is a finite resource that must be replenished. For physicians in residency training and those in practice, where finding meaning and purpose in their work is already a challenge, the spark for medicine and helping others may easily become extinguished.
This article explores interventions implemented in two family medicine residency programs to address concerns about burnout and compassion fatigue exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: A qualitative research approach is employed here through case studies of two family medicine programs, along with a description of several interventions intended to mitigate burnout and compassion fatigue during the pandemic.
Participants were 36 family medicine residents from “residency #1” and 36 family medicine residents from “residency #2.”
Results: The authors describe several interventions used in the two residency programs to reduce issues of compassion fatigue. These include meditation, gratitude practice, guided group support, and a focus on clinicians’ physical health.
Feedback from residents and program leaders suggest that these interventions were useful tools to help physicians navigate their new normal as they began to practice during a pandemic, thereby reducing burnout and challenges with compassion fatigue. A strategic plan is outlined to help other programs implement some of these strategies.
Conclusions: It is imperative that training programs continue to implement interventions that emphasize resident and post-residency wellness to reduce compassion fatigue in order to navigate the new stressors that came with the COVID-19 pandemic and those that will come with pandemics in the future.
