Penn Medicine Family Medicine Residency - February 2025

1. What was the general understanding of the purpose of the project/program by participants?

·                      General understand was to have dedicated time to unwind, create something, and have something tangible to bring home with us to remind ourselves that we are more than our job. 

2. Why did you choose the specific wellness project/activity?

·                     I chose this activity because we create our potted plant creations quite literally from the ground up. I told our participants this was to mirror the osteopathic approach to medicine, focusing on the whole person from the basic metabolic components that power us to the social determinants of health that affect our patient population. I also thought it would be nice to have an event that we could bring something home from, to serve as a reminder to take a step back and remember how everything is in medicine and ourselves is interconnected.

 3. During the project/program, what tangible tools or strategies were demonstrated or taught to address wellness and life balance?

·                     We created a terrarium of plants to take home to remind us to focus on and help motivate us to keep pushing forward. We also discussed taking time intentionally to find time for hobbies and finding time to be together, as the only way to make it in medicine is as a team and a community.   

4. What do you intend to do, upon returning to work, that you learned and practiced during the activity, that will improve your response to stressful situations?

·                     We discussed having future events like this, where we create something as an outlet for our stress and to be intentional about finding time to spend time with our loved ones and each other. By starting from a less stressed point, you are able to tolerate a heavier or more stressful load. For example, I went on to night shift at our hospital the weekend after the event and we had created a terrarium with low maintenance succulents for our Ward (inpatient) team, whcih they appreciated and I got to appreciate it during my shift. 

5. What can POMA do to address wellness and life balance for your future

·                     POMA is doing an amazing job with the Wellness grants to inspire residents to go out and find time to create community and remind ourselves that wellness is something that has to be acted upon, not something that just happens. I also greatly appreciate POMA's activities in the advocacy space, as myself and my chief resident organized a meeting with PA Senator Martin about scope of practice thanks to the POMA call to action on that topic.

I'd be happy to expand further on the above points if you would like.