Cultivating Strong Teams

Molly White and Christina Clay, Caswell Diabetes Institute

• Allows faculty, staff and learners to participate in the Ross Center for Positive Organizations consortium to contribute to the design of thriving communities and inclusivity. Consortium programming throughout includes engaging learning events, resources, and community-building opportunities. 

Incorporation of Wellness Micro-Breaks

Amy Zhang, MD, Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences

• The project would offer an MHealthy instructor to come and focus on specific neck and back strengthening exercises or stretches at Kellogg Eye Center. All faculty, staff and learners would be invited to participate in low-intensity brief stretches. While the focus is on the correct postures of the stretches, the group environment can also as a brief connection point for various team members to connect. 

Enhancing Culture through FiSH! Training

Lynn McCain, Pathology

• Engage up to 100 faculty, staff, and trainees in the Department of Pathology in the FiSH! Philosophy training, thereby increasing the enculturation of this philosophy and improving the overall workplace environment at all levels. 

Creating a Proactive Approach to Addressing Resident Well-being

Drs. Julia Cartwright & Grace Luger, Pediatrics

• This project will take a proactive approach to address resident wellness and burnout using a Stress Action Plan.  Residents will reflect on what each zone of the Stress Action Plan looks like to them and what tells them they are in that zone. This plan also allows residents to express the ways in which they handle stress and what supports them during stressful times. Action Plans will be incorporated into regular Chief/APD check-ins in order to determine where they lie within their Stress Action Plan. When a resident has identified that they are reaching high levels of stress and burnout, they will address this in an individualized way as identified by the resident in their Stress Action Plan. This program would allow residents that express concerns for being burned out to have personalized avenues of stress relief and find measures that generate better resiliency and reduce burnout within the program overall. This program would allow us to individualize the needs of each resident to the stress relievers that they identify. 

Enhancing Digital Minimalism

Bridget O'Connor & Dr. Amanda Pritchard, Pediatrics - Genetics, Metabolism & Genomic Medicine

• This project aims to improve digital communication while fostering professional growth and overall job satisfaction. Vital Voices survey results highlight the high level of exhaustion that digital communication creates for faculty and staff. To reduce burnout, maximize effectiveness, and allow each individual in the division to function at the top of their scope, there is a strong need to relearn digital communication, develop tools to support this, and create standard boundaries and expectations. 

Decompress the Stress

Drs. Michele Carney & Helena Wang-Flores, Pediatric Emergency Medicine

• Since we cannot eliminate work stress, we would like to try a few strategies to see if we can relieve stress while still at work, hoping to leave it there and not take it home.  A pilot group composed of faculty, staff and learners will be educated on how a debrief is run and strategies of appreciative inquiry. We will develop cards with questions to stir conversation using standard debriefing questions. If effective, these cards can then be used in other departments. 

Workplace Initiatives to Reduce Attrition in Obstetricians and Gynecologists 

Drs. Hannah McLaughlin & Melissa Brackmann, Obstetrics/Gynecology

• Identify factors associated with increased attrition within OBGYN that guide interventions to improve the workplace well-being of trainees and faculty at Michigan Medicine. We plan to implement actionable items that are guided by the data assessment of national and Michigan Medicine trends.

Family Teams

Drs. Sahoko Little and Katy Gold, Family Medicine

• Address the identified workplace stressors in 5 family medicine clinics using a stepped-wedge design (three clinics randomly get the intervention initially and two clinics get it later). Liaison with staff and leadership at each clinic to implement these “asks” and “offers” and measure the impact on team cohesiveness.