Wellness is a significant priority of our training program. There are a variety of ways in which we work to support our fellows. We have one designated faculty member who is the wellness liaison to our Fellowship Committee and helps with ideas, programming and debriefing. Our fellow representatives help the leadership consider the impact of various activities and serve as our barometer for change.  Examples of wellness initiatives include:

Supportive culture and building community:

• Budget for fellow class dinners, fellow-NP activities, fellow-faculty family-friendly activities
• Yearly graduation dinner for all faculty and fellows
• Welcome event for incoming fellows, current fellows and faculty
• Gatherings at national meetings

Debriefing and support:

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  First-year fellow debriefing with our wellness liaison

• Yearly all-fellow retreat off site with external facilitation
• Narrative medicine sessions run by the Cancer Center
• GME website with many helpful resources and local mental health providers. CHOP employees have access to the Employee Assistance Program which provides 6 to 8 appointments without charge.
• Challenging Interaction Tool allows fellows to report unprofessional behavior they witness or experience throughout the hospital. GME leadership is alerted and follows up with the reports on a regular basis.

Fellow input:

• Fellow representatives from second and third year serve on our committee, design the schedule, participate in feedback to leadership from retreat and national/local surveys
• Wellness liaison collates themes from debriefings to feed back to program leadership

Fellow recognition:

• Participation in Fellow Appreciation Week activities
• Quarterly fellow newsletter
• Recognition of our fellow representatives

Control over schedule:

• Fellow representatives design the schedule with input from program leadership
• First-year breaks from inpatient service: Outpatient rotation, time in the spring to catch up on clinical work, attend personal appointments and spend time in procedure clinic
• Night float system allows upper-level fellows to combine call in hematology and oncology to allow longer call-free periods in their schedule