Wellness
Wellness Designed from the Ground Up
My name is Zach Testo and I am the Leadership in Wellness Fellowship Director at UMass Chan Medical School - Baystate. I did my residency as well as an Ultrasound Fellowship here at Baystate and I have made Western Mass my home.
From my days as "The Cuddly Chief Resident" I have made wellness a priority in my personal and professional life. As that interest and passion began to grow into my concern for my colleagues as I saw more and more of the hardships that we all endure in health care.
Wellness at Baystate has been a priority since before I started my years here as a resident in an informal way. Protecting residents from duty hours both on and off service, protected time, and a month-long orientation period for interns designed to create and solidify bonds that can last a lifetime, were all initiatives that set Baystate apart from day one.
"Our PD @BaystateEM says it's their job to teach us to be EM doctors. For us to be good learners/doctors we need to be fed, rested and happy. Simple really."
Dr. Sam Broder, Former Baystate Franklin Attending and Baystate Alumnus
Wellness at Baystate
There is no better embodiment of this ideal than our three day resident retreat where all three classes can enjoy time together and away from work to foster friendships and to externalizations the stress of the department. This spirit has grown into other efforts to include more burnout prevention in the curriculum, including Wellness and Resilience Club, now called VITALS - which stands for Vitality, Team Building and Lifelong Support.
At this monthly get together at an attending's house, we discuss building resilience and professional excellence, and externalizing and highlighting serious threats to wellness; this includes issues such as substance use, interpersonal conflict, and mental health. The focus on behavioral health outreach is longitudinal throughout residency and beyond. Our institution stresses the importance of mental health and has multiple resources for all employees.
Residency is tough and Baystate is no different. We expect our residents to go through all the growing pains and difficulties that come with learning to protect the lives of patients on a daily basis. But this does not mean that the pressures, defeats and hardships should be ignored nor should they be suffered alone. At Baystate we try to offer support where available, to educate about burnout and to build a resilient and mature group of doctors who will be well equipped to take care of patients and themselves after graduation.
The Leadership in Wellness Fellowship
We are excited to be one of the first Wellness Fellowships in the country. It is a one year fellowship for EM-trained physicians. With an increasing awareness of physician “wellness and resiliency” and the epidemic of “burnout” comes the need for physician leadership specific to these areas of interest. Many health systems are creating the position of Chief Wellness Officer (CWO) to spearhead initiatives related to physician wellness. The Baystate EM Leadership in Wellness Fellowship seeks to provide education and preparation to an Emergency Medicine graduate to be a wellness champion.
While the concept of wellness and the term burnout have become catch-all phrases to encompass anything that makes the job of physician hard or annoying, this fellowship is designed to focus on the relationship between faculty and administration. All current literature points out the need for a systemic and cultural change which starts at the administrative level. While the tenants of physician wellness like self-care and mindfulness are the core content, this fellowship seeks to go deeper into the understanding of the stressors of the profession and to foster an environment that is adaptive and creative in the way we come up with institutional solutions.
Our most recent fellow is involved with projects such as Resident Coaching, virtual and in-person didactics, intervention based research and wellness outreach. The fellow also serves on department as well as hospital-wide committees devoted to improving staff wellness.
If you are interested in the fellowship or want to learn more, please feel free to contact Zachary.Testo@baystatehealth.org
Meet Jenni Bolton
Dr. Jenni Bolton is our most recent graduate of the Leadership in Wellness Fellowship (2024), and she now works on staff with us as one of our Attendings
What keeps you at Baystate? I came to Baystate to complete the Leadership in Wellness fellowship based on a recommendation from my mentor in the CORD mini-fellowship in wellness I completed my third year of residency. The wellness curriculum and strong support from program leadership for resident wellness hooked me since my passion lies at the intersection of resident education and well-being. I have found amazing mentors in the wellness and education divisions here and feel truly supported in the projects I am working on and the ideas I have regarding resident education and wellness. Most importantly, I love working with both the residents and other faculty at Baystate - the people here are 10/10! 🙂
Best thing to do in Western MA? There are countless trails for hiking, and I take my dogs out as much as I can! There are generally not many people on the trails and it is a great escape into the wilderness.
Favorite restaurant? I love Gombo in Northampton. The seafood jambalaya and oysters are delicious and they have great cocktails and live music on weekends!
Do you have any pets? I have two rescue pups - a red heeler named Sid and a blue heeler named Sadie. They are the best, most loyal, and rambunctious doggos out there!
Hometown: Kennewick, WA
Med School: Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences in Yakima, WA.
Fellowship concentration: The intersection between wellness and medical education since as she's doing the MEHP program and Johns Hopkins
"It's truly rare to find a workplace that cares so much about you and your wellbeing outside of medicine, and to have coworkers that are genuinely interested in knowing your family/upbringing and what makes you, you. I feel so lucky to be here every day."
-Dr. Julianne Earle, DO, Medical Education Fellow and Baystate Alumna