Building strategies to cultivate long-term healthcare career well-being
Burnout prevention 1-hour virtual workshop for UIC healthcare professional students
On December 3, 2024 as part of an Advanced Field Experience in Education, Post-Professional Occupational Therapy Doctoral student Rachel Francis, MS, OTR/L, facilitated a workshop to support long-term career well-being to a diverse group of health professional students. Rachel used evidence to inform the development of the workshop and worked collaboratively with Advisor Dr. Toni Van Denend (Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy) and colleagues and leaders from the Center for the Advancement of Interprofessional Practice, Education, and Research (CAIPPER) and Student Engagement and Leadership Development (SELD) Ambassador teams. Using strategies to promote inclusion and belonging, Rachel’s workshop incorporated participatory activities and fostered important reflection for students. Participants explored the definitions, realities of, and common contributors to compassion fatigue and burnout in the healthcare field and identified personal strategies to minimize compassion fatigue and burnout with an interprofessional group of peers. UIC continues to advance efforts to support the well-being of students on campus and this workshop is just one example of these important efforts. If you’re interested in learning more about this topic, please reach out to Toni Van Denend at tvande2@uic.edu and Rachel Francis at rfranci2@uic.edu.
Special thanks to those students who attended and to our collaborators including Ami Shah and Mary Keehn (CAIPPER Team) and Jennifer Wescott and Marianne Durham (SELD Ambassador Team)!