Impact of a virtual coaching program for women physicians on burnout, fulfillment, and self-valuation

Background

Coaching has been demonstrated to be an effective physician wellness intervention. However, this evidence-based intervention has not yet been widely adopted in the physician community. Documentation and implementation research of interventions to address physician burnout in real world settings is much needed.

Objective

Assess the impact of a virtual physician coaching program in women physicians.

Design

Pre- and post-intervention surveys administered to participants enrolled in the program (N = 329). Effect size was calculated comparing pre- and post-intervention paired data (N = 201).

Participants

201 women physicians from 40 states in the United States of America and 3 international participants.

Interventions

Participants were given access to an 8 week virtual coaching program including eight individual, six small group, and 24 large group sessions.

Main measures

Stanford Professional Fulfillment Inventory (PFI) containing categories for assessing professional fulfillment, burnout, and the Clinician Self-Valuation (SV) Scale (a measure of self-compassion).

Key results

Burnout was found in 77.1% (N = 155) of participants at baseline, which reduced to 33.3% (N = 67) at completion with large effect size (Cohen’s d 1.11). The percentage of participants who endorsed significant professional fulfillment started at 27.4% (N = 55) and improved to 68.2% (N = 137) with a large effect size (Cohen’s d 0.95). Self-valuation improved from 17.9% (N = 36) of the participants endorsing a compassionate self-improvement perspective to 64% of the same participants eight weeks later. The self-valuation metric showed a very large effect size (Cohen’s d 1.28).

Conclusions

Virtual physician coaching programs led by physician coaches can decrease burnout, improve professional fulfillment, and increase self-compassion. Non-institution-based opportunities for coaching available to any physician across the United States and internationally can facilitate access to effective physician well-being interventions.