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Hematology/Oncology Fellowship: Course Details

Leaning Outcomes

Fellows participating in this program will:

  1. Understand core components of resilience and wellness.
  2. Assess and examine one’s personal professional quality of life, resilience, and comprehensive engagement in the Wellness Wheel.
  3. Identify physician distress in self and colleagues.
  4. Engage in various stress reduction techniques and apply techniques for building resilience.
  5. Design a personal wellness plan for building resilience to physician stress.

Required Course Materials

Assignments, assessments, and readings include the following:

  1. Confidential Journal
  2. Resiliency Quiz: https://resiliencyquiz.com/cgi-bin/resquiz.cgi
  3. Professional Quality of Life: https://proqol.org/proqol-measure
  4. Mittal, S.V., “Physician Distress: What to Look for and How to Help.” VITAL WorkLife.
  5. Ensler, E. (2013). In the Body of the World: A Memoir of Cancer and Connections. New York: Picador. (excerpts, “Dr. Handsome” & “Uterus = Hysteria,”)
  6. Oliver, M., “The Journey.” [http://www.phys.unm.edu/~tw/fas/yits/archive/oliver_thejourney.html]
  7. Kinnell, G., “Wait.”
  8. Yalom, I., & Yalom, M. (2021). A Matter of Death and Life. California: Redwood Press. (excerpts, Chs I and II)
  9. Street, R. L. et al. “How Does Communication Heal? Pathways Linking Clinician-patient Communication to Health Outcomes.” Patient Education and Counseling 74 (2009) 295- 301.

Weekly Sessions

MODULE I: INTRODUCTION TO RESILIENCE & WELLNESS

  1. Icebreaker: Name, year, and what you hope to get out of these four weeks
  2. Introduction: Resilience, Mindfulness, & Wellness Wheel
  3. Wellness Wheel Discussion: Emotional & Physical
    • “Dr. Handsome,” Eve Ensler.
    • “Uterus = Hysteria,” Eve Ensler.
  4. Mindfulness Exercise: 336x3 & Leaves on a Stream

Homework:

  1. Journal Reflection: What are my Wellness Wheel strengths? What aspects need increased attention?
  2. Take Resiliency Quiz: https://resiliencyquiz.com/cgi-bin/resquiz.cgi
  3. Take ProQoL Assessment: https://proqol.org/proqol-measure
    • Submit a brief reflection of your assessment results in writing to Lisa and Katie and identify areas for growth and improvement. Come prepared the following week to share.

MODULE II: WHERE ARE YOU & WHERE DO YOU GO FROM HERE?

  1. Wellness Wheel: Vocational & Emotional
  2. Homework discussion: Resilience & Professional Quality of Life Results
    1. Share a case study that has emotionally challenged your ProQoL.
    2. Who do you rely upon to explore your professional challenges?
    3. What types of wellness activities have you found helpful in supporting your resilience in times of vocational distress?

 
  1. Mindfulness Exercise: I am the Tree of Life

Homework:

  1. Read: Mittal, S.V., Physician Distress: What to Look for and How to Help. VITAL WorkLife.
  2. Journal Topic: Watch and reflect on: “Wait,” by Galway Kinnell as performed by Andrew Bird: https://fb.watch/idvT3ts-Y9/https://youtu.be/GDiqFibMTdY
    1. Who was this poem written to?
    2. What might “wait” mean to your patients?
    3. To yourself?

MODULE III: PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL BOUNDARIES:

  1. Wellness Wheel: Relational, Emotional, & Financial
    1. Normalizing Ambivalence: Basic Motivational Interviewing exercise to consider resistance.
  2. Homework discussion: Taking Care of Self & Colleagues
    1. How comfortable do you feel asking a colleague about their mental health?
    2. How could you talk with your supervisors about concerns about your own mental health?
  1. Experiential Role Play: Scenarios with a Distressed Colleague and/or Supervisor
  2. Mindfulness Exercise: Eye of the Storm Guided Meditation

Homework:

  1. Read: Mary Oliver, “The Journey.” Reflect on how your professional calling came to you, and how you can ensure healthy engagement with yourself, patients, and your family.
  2. Journal: How are you engaging in financial wellness? Consider school loans, credit card debt, short- and long-term goals.

MODULE IV: PURPOSE & MEANING IN MY LIFE & WORK

  1. Wellness Wheel: Spiritual, Intellectual, & Environmental
    1. How do you determine personal and professional boundaries?
    2. Identify and discuss a professional boundary challenge/violation you have experienced in your career.
  2. Homework discussion: Professional Calling
    1. Share an example of a patient interaction that helps sustain your purpose and meaning as a physician.
  3. Mindfulness Exercise: A Raisin is a Raisin; Mindful Walking
  4. Concluding Thoughts

Homework:

  1. Design a personal wellness plan for building resilience in response to physician stressors.
 
  1. Establish a 30-min exit meeting with Dr. Duckworth or Dr. Rainwater to discuss your personal wellness plan.

Evaluation:

    • To be distributed via Redcap for anonymous reflections on this 4-week group

Communicating with Your Facilitators

Dr. Duckworth

  1. Email is the quickest way to reach me at: kduckwor@wakehealth.edu
  2. Call my office at any time (336.713.6953) and leave a confidential voicemail.
  3. Webex Videoconference is also available by request.

Dr. Rainwater

  1. Email is the quickest way to reach me at: lrainwat@wakehealth.edu
  2. Call my office at any time (336.716.0327) and leave a confidential voicemail.
  3. Webex Videoconference is also available by request.

Confidentiality Statement

We seek to create a safe space for you to share your experiences as an oncology fellow with the knowledge that what you share remains confidential outside our meetings. Sharing requires risk- taking and vulnerability. A key concept of group work is, “What occurs in group, stays in group.” In this group, we will encourage you to share delicate information with the understanding that anything shared is to remain confidential.

Attendance Policy

Fellows are expected to attend all four sessions.

Due to interactive activities, in-person attendance is preferred. A medical risk, such as a positive COVID-19 test, is acceptable for a Webex session and/or absence.

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