Stress and burnout are common in physicians and clinicians. A wellness survey of pathologists in the United States conducted in late 2019 and later published in the American Journal of Clinical Pathology in the spring of 2020 as well as data from a recent national survey conducted in 2019, on behalf of the Canadian Association of Pathologists (CAP-ACP), have provided more data and confirm that stress and burnout are very prevalent among pathologists and pathology residents as well.  The current Covid pandemic has contributed to this problem even more.

At the request of the Department head, Dr. Fergall Magee, a provincial wellness committee was started by Dr. Henrike Rees and Dr. Pouneh Dokouhaki (Pathologists). This committee currently includes Dr. Martha Lyon and Dr. Fang Wu (Biochemists), Dr. James MacPherson and Dr. Karan Vats (Pathology residents) as well as Mr. Harold Schiffman (General Manager at the College of Medicine). Dr. Rees was formally appointed as the Department’s Wellness Director in January 2021.

With the support of Dr. Anita Chakravarti, the CME wellness lead, a wellness focused Pathology Grand Round was presented in November 2020 to prepare the professional staff for a wellness survey which was launched in March 2021. The results of the wellness survey will be shared with the members of the department and used to identify improvement targets and organizational wellness gaps and help create a list of potential wellness interventions. The hope is that residents, pathologists and clinical staff will engage in various initiatives and that a sense of shared ownership will develop and improve staff and clinician wellness over time.  A wellness program will be developed in collaboration with the CME wellness lead, Dr. Chakravarti.  Partnerships with other local and national departments using education and grand rounds presentations and individual dialogue will be pursued.  A repeat wellness survey will be conducted in March 2022 and the results of this survey will be compared to those obtained in 2021 and used to identify successful interventions and areas where additional initiatives may be needed.