Application of performance psychology to emergency medicine resident physicians

Abstract

Medical residents are consistently faced with high expectations and enormous performance pressures during their training. Current literature suggests this can reduce overall health and well being and impede job performance. Utilizing strategies common to the field of performance psychology, a High Performance Physician (HPP) program was designed to meet the demands of post-graduate medical residency and integrated into a residency program at a Canadian medical school's department of Emergency Medicine. The primary interest was to capture the phenomena of 22 emergency residents as they progressed through the HPP program. A qualitative approach was used which included pre and post surveys to assess the residents' perspectives and to identify areas of concern that they wanted to address. Secondly, four class sessions were held with the residents to present and discuss various topics consistent with performance psychology. Lastly, an online discussion group was used to keep ideas and discussions going in between sessions. Testimony from these online exchanges, discussions and post-surveys were printed and analyzed through a process of thematic analysis and developed into a narrative. Pre-surveys identified three areas of concern: a) maintaining perspective, b) coping effectively and c) sustaining optimal performance. Furthermore, the notion of sanctuary, both in the group sessions and online exchanges was highlighted. Recommendations for further research will be discussed, as will guidelines for qualitative research within the post-graduate medical education context.

Acknowledgments: Dr. Chau Pham; Dr. Shelly Zubert; Dr. Miteb Algithami; Dr. Cal Botterill