Pause and Recharge: Wellness for Medical Students

Background: Medical students, especially in their core clerkship/third year of medical school, undergo a significant amount of stress which can impact their studies and ability to care for patients. This study investigates how certain wellness activities can affect student wellness during their core clerkship year. Methods: The Medical Student Stressor Questionnaire was utilized to assess student wellness. This survey assesses 6 domains of wellness which are academic-related stressors, interpersonal & intrapersonal-related stressors, teaching and learning-related stressors, social-related stressors, drive & desire-related stressors, and group activities-related stressors. The survey was distributed about halfway into the core clerkship year, followed by numerous wellness activities, and a repeat survey near the end of the year. Results: Academic stressors saw a significant decrease post-intervention, indicating a notable increase in that domain of wellness. Other domains did not see a significant increase or decrease. Conclusion: Overall, student wellness events may have an impact on perceived student wellness. Given that wellness is dynamic, changes may have occurred on a smaller day-to-day level as well. Future work should focus on long-term changes as well as other health care student burnout.