Journal of Education and Teaching in Emergency Medicine

Audience: This small group session is appropriate for any level of medical student, emergency medicine resident physicians, and faculty.  

Introduction: Burnout is a major issue in medicine, with over half of physicians experiencing burnout at some point in their career.¹ Physicians who regularly participate in self-care activities, such as regularly exercising, having a well-balanced diet, and appropriate amount of sleep, experience less burnout.^2,3,4 As a resident, it is difficult to find time to practice self-care.² This session sought to combine education on how to implement appropriate self-care as a trainee and how to carry that forward after training in a way that was fun, provided a period of physical exercise, and provided time outdoors for those participating. 

Educational Objectives: By the end of this session, the learner will be able to: 1) implement basic ways to improve sleep quality, 2) avoid common pitfalls in diet and nutrition, 3) incorporate more physical activity into their lives. 

Educational Methods: Learners were divided into teams of three to four. A scavenger hunt was created using Google Forms and QR codes. The initial QR code was displayed in the lecture hall at the start of the session. Fifteen other QR codes were either physically distributed throughout the Emergency Medicine Offices and the Emergency Department or provided to participants via text message when they completed certain tasks. Each QR code led to a different Google Form with a question about physical wellbeing. Participants were allowed to use any resource they had with them, including their mobile devices. After the question was answered correctly, an explanation was provided in the Google Form. A riddle was also provided to help locate the next QR code. An incorrect answer required the participants to try to answer the question again. Participants were not given any hints after answering incorrectly. There were no formal penalties for incorrect answers. However, incorrect answers increased the time it took to complete the task.  At the end of the session, each question was debriefed by the instructor. 

Research Methods: Participants completed a five-question pre-survey to rate their level of physical wellbeing using a 1-5 Likert Scale. Participants also completed a 10-question post survey that asked them the same initial 5 questions to rate their physical wellbeing on the same scale as the pretest, as well as additional questions asking how likely they were to change their physical habits based on the session and how much they enjoyed the session on a different 1-5 Likert Scale. They were also asked to provide recommendations for future changes. Pre- and post-test Likert scores were compared using the Mann-Whitney U Test. 

Results: Twelve participants, all resident physicians, took part in the exercise. Twelve completed the pre-survey, and ten completed the post-survey. There was no difference in physical wellbeing score (median 3 before vs median 2.5 after, P=0.62). All participants except one were at least moderately likely (3 or above on a 1-5 Likert scale) to change their sleep habits based on the exercise. All were at least moderately likely (3 or above on a 1-5 Likert scale) to change their eating and exercise habits based on the activity. All respondents found the activity to be at least moderately enjoyable (3 or above), with 8 of 10 finding it extremely enjoyable (5).

Discussion: This wellbeing scavenger hunt effectively taught learners how to incorporate simple changes into their lives to improve the self-care habits. This model could be applied to other educational topics to incorporate a component of physical wellbeing and exercise and has been used during new resident orientation and wilderness education within our department.  

Topics: Wellbeing, physical wellbeing, exercise, nutrition, sleep habits, self-care.