A pioneer in promoting provider wellbeing, Christiana Care partners with its physicians and other caregivers to create a satisfying work environment that supports their ability to deliver high quality patient care. The Center for Provider Wellbeing at Christiana Care, established in 2016, is a national leader in these initiatives.

On May 13, the Center for Provider Wellbeing’s symposium, “Physician Suicide: What You Can Do to Save a Life,” addressed the most serious potential consequence of professional burnout and encouraged physicians and other caregivers to give attention and time to their own mental health and wellbeing.

The symposium highlighted ways clinicians can open a conversation with a colleague they are concerned about and support resources available to struggling clinicians at the Center for Provider Wellbeing and nationally.

“We go into the health care profession to care, to cure, to heal,” said Heather Farley, M.D., FACEP, chief wellness officer at Christiana Care. “To serve our patients with excellence and with love, we need to meet our own needs so that we can be fully engaged for them, and for one another.”

The symposium featured keynote speaker Michael Myers, M.D., professor of Clinical Psychiatry at SUNY-Downstate Medical Center. Dr. Myers specializes in physician health and is an author of eight books on physician well-being. As a survivor of suicide when he lost his medical school roommate at 19, he is an active member of the Clinician Survivor Task Force of the American Association of Suicidology and past president of the New York City chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Joining Dr. Myers for a question-and-answer session was Michael Weinstein, M.D., MBE, trauma surgeon at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and author of “Out of the Straitjacket,” a powerful personal story of his recovery from depression and burnout published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Learn more about the Center for Provider Wellbeing’s programs and workshops at christianacare.org/providerwellbeing.

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