February: Dimensions of Wellness Survey Results

Saturday, February 01, 2014 02:54 PM

Two hundred and eighty-eight CMS members completed a survey focused on physicians’ wellness across eight dimensions. This survey—a collaboration between CMS and the University of Colorado’s Behavioral Health and Wellness Program—gathered information about CMS members’ perceptions of wellness. Survey participants were asked to rate their level of wellness on a scale of 1 (worst) to 10 (best).

First the good news – and there is plenty of it!  A majority (>66%) of physicians surveyed rate their Environmental, Intellectual, and Spiritual wellness as “high”, with an average rating ranging from 7.9 (Intellectual and Spiritual) to a whopping 8.1 (Environmental). In fact, over half of all participants rate their wellness as “high” in all dimensions. Less than 10% of survey participants rate their current wellness as “low” in seven of the eight dimensions of wellness. 

But there is always room for improvement!  Occupational Wellness is rated as “low” in more than 1 in every 10 participants. Just under half of participants rated their Occupational Wellness as either “moderate” (38%) or “low” (11%). It will be important to focus our upcoming wellness activities on increasing occupational wellness as well as sustaining wellness across all of the other dimensions in the coming months.

We invite you to let us know your thoughts on these survey results in the comments box on this page.  Thank you for your contribution in support of physician wellness!

The Colorado Medical Society and its Expert Panel on Physician Wellness have taken on the goal of improving physician wellness and reducing burnout in 2014. A crucial partner in the effort are the experts at the Behavioral Health and Wellness Program at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, who will develop a toolkit over the next year specifically tailored to physicians to address the eight dimensions of wellness with a focus on stress and burnout. BHWP experts will provide monthly web posts and encourage CMS members to provide feedback to shape the development of the toolkit. Above is the second in the series. Go to www.cms.org/resources/category/physician-wellness to view others in the series.