Wellness and Activities

The list below highlights some of the projects that the Wellness Committee supports to build community and foster an environment where residents can thrive. Our goal is to develop resilience among residents in this exciting and challenging phase of training and life. We are always looking for fresh ideas- come help us support resident wellness! On instagram? Follow along with our fun: @yim_wellness

Professional mental health resources are available to house staff at all times and residents receive weekly emails with reminders about how to access resources. The Employee and Family Resource Program regularly offers opportunities to connect residents to family and mental health support resources. Additionally, each resident is offered a number of free and confidential counseling sessions to help ease connection to regular mental health support. The Chief Residents are on call 24/7 and are available to connect residents with available resources.

The program sponsors annual retreats for each class to encourage team-building and celebrate a successful year. The program provides coverage for everyone on their appointed retreat days so we all get a much-deserved break and day of relaxation.

We operate on a 6+2 system, meaning residents and interns are scheduled to be in clinic every 6 weeks. (6 weeks of inpatient/elective time, followed by 2 weeks of outpatient time.) Each group of residents in clinic during the same two weeks is assigned a color block, which becomes a “home base.” The program sponsors annual Color Block Retreats as a time for residents to spend time together in a social setting and debrief about residency life. Additionally, each color block has Wellness Chairs who help coordinate social events while residents are on clinic blocks and have free weekends. Past and planned events include grill-outs, game nights, hikes, brunch, and ski trips!

We offer a resident-developed and led curriculum covering many of the challenges residents encounter in training with a focus on developing coping tools to minimize burnout and help everyone thrive. Topics include navigating hierarchy and team dynamics, cultivating self-compassion and resilience, imposter syndrome, staying connected to joy and purpose in medicine, living a balanced life and preventing burnout, and coping with end-of-life issues and grief.

The Wellness Committee is dedicated to addressing the well-being of our resident family by hosting events that nurture the many branches of wellness – emotional, environmental, intellectual, physical, and social. Most notable for promoting color block bonding events and reflection activities.
Contact Anna Qian, Jess Petrov, Ysa Ilagan-Ying, or Koeun Choi to get involved.

Every year, our program director Dr. Siegel leads a hike with the residents at Sleeping Giant State Park to enjoy the beautiful New England landscape and get some cardio, then end the day with a well-deserved meal with new and old friends.

An amazing program started by our own Laura Glick to provide a confidential, safe space to talk through concerns. Some examples of when you could use DocTalk: Having bad day at work/home, feel uncomfortable with a situation at work/home, overwhelmed with a rotation, want to vent to someone who understands residency life. See this flyer for more details!

Check out our page full of extracurricular opportunities and ways to get involved, from sports to the arts!

Beeson Bombers: Our very own Resident and Faculty Championship-Winning Softball Team! All are welcome, any game and any week! No experience or equipment necessary. Games are weekly on Tuesday evenings at the Yale Athletic Fields and are a wonderful way to get some fresh air, exercise, and get to know your co-residents!

Intramural Sports: Check out this website for more info!

Arts Night: Our annual Internal Medicine variety show featuring performances from our residents! Featuring an art show and dance and music performances, and is seriously one of the most exciting nights of the year.

Beeson Beat: The Beeson Beat is a quarterly literary magazine that showcases the art of our residents - whether that be written (fiction, non-fiction, poetry) or visual (drawings or photographs). Residents have found the medium to be a safe and empowering space to reflect on their experiences in residency and find solidarity in the journey towards being a doctor. Check out the website with past issues here, the most recent issue here, and the Instagram @yalebeesonbeat

Arts & Crafts Club: Do you like to do crafts, paint, or be creative? Are you nostalgic for elementary school art class? We have a monthly arts and crafts night, where we hang out, chat, and do crafts together. You do not need any art experience or supplies. It is very low-key. Periodic emails announcing dates and locations of events are sent to our class listserv.

Yale 20: The Yale 20 is a nationally recognized resident-run educational platform comprised of short videos on high-yield topics - it is constantly evolving and updating thanks to our residents.

POCUS Committee: Help develop the inpatient Point of Care Ultrasound curriculum. Stay tuned for emails about opportunities to get involved.

Resident Procedure Team (RPT): RPT aims to improve resident skills with procedures on the floor, as well as to increase the number of opportunities for residents to do procedures.

Inpatient Curriculum Committee: The inpatient curriculum committee aims to develop learning resources with a focus on inpatient internal medicine. We are open to all interested members and welcome new creative ideas to bolster our inpatient curriculum!

Noon Reports: Have an amazing case on the wards or in clinic? Reach out to the Chiefs and we will work with you to turn it into a fantastic Noon Report! This is a low stress activity that can be done at the VA or YSC.

Yale Twitter/Instagram: Are you a budding medical education + social media enthusiast? Help us run the residency Instagram and Twitter!

Narrative Medicine Writing Workshop: Are you looking for a creative outlet while in residency? Do you want to be around like-minded individuals who share the love of writing? Are you looking for space to write more? Please look out for more information about Narrative Medicine Writing opportunities.

Executive Council: Join a committee of IM residents to act as a liaison to the IM administration, with monthly meetings discussing issues with Dr. Siegel and the chiefs.

Yale Resident Fellow Senate (YRFS): House staff representation (fellows and residents) at YNHH planning events and involving councils such as: Advocacy, Diversity, Education, QI/Patient Safety, Wellness.

Program Evaluation Committee: Th PEC collects feedback about rotations, programs, and initiatives in the residency in an effort to continuously improve the care of our patients and wellbeing of our residents. The committee has played a part in many changes over the years and regularly meets with leadership to discuss new proposals. Any resident is welcome to lead a project with the PEC to better the program. Joining the committee is a great way to get involved with faculty leadership, get to know other PGY classes and chiefs, and give back to this great program!

Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC): A cross-program collaboration to improve GME efforts, the traditional medicine program holds 6 seats on the committee filled by resident volunteers.

GI Interest Group: “Come scope us out!” For those interested in both luminal GI and liver. We host casual info sessions on GI research, educational topics, and fellowship/career planning.

Cardiology Interest Group ("House of Cards"): A resident-run group of those interested in cardiology which provides residents with a platform to get together, meet with faculty from cardiology department, and share thoughts and experiences on a wide range of topics, including career development, fellowship application, and reviewing major studies from Yale labs. We look forward to meeting you future cardiologists very soon!

PCCSM Interest Group: "We take your breath away." This group features informal monthly meetings with faculty, opportunities for research/conferences, and journal club with the fellows.

Unpopular Specialties Interest Group: An unassuming group for residents considering specialties that aren’t cardiology, GI, hem/onc, or pulm/crit. All are welcome. Come meet likeminded individuals and discuss fields pursued by only a handful of our recent alumni, such as endocrinology, geriatrics, nephrology, infectious diseases, rheumatology, palliative care, informatics, allergy and immunology, women's health, and others. Make friends and research connections.

Refugee Clinic: Our resident-run clinic that works with local non-profit to conduct health screenings for newly arrived refugees, held Wednesday PM.

Yale Minority Housestaff Organization (MHO): See their informational flyer here! Contact mho.eboard@gmail.com if interested!

Yale Women's Housestaff Organization: The Yale Women’s Housestaff Organization (YWHO) serves residents and fellows across specialties to improve the well-being and advancement of self-identified women at Yale. We create a community for residents and fellows to share their experiences as women physicians and advocate for issues that can specifically affect their training and careers.

Women in Medicine Group: Like YWHO but with a focus on internal medicine! Women in Medicine (WIM) is dedicated to educating, informing and imparting skills to women in healthcare to combat, close and eliminate the inequitable gender gap.

Wellness Committee: Dedicated to addressing the well-being of our resident family through hosting events that nurture the many branches of wellness – emotional, environmental, intellectual, physical, spiritual, and social. Most notable for promoting color block bonding events and reflection activities. We welcome any ideas for wellness events and are always trying to be creative, inclusive and have fun! Come join us to help bring wellness to your color block this year!

Welcoming Committee: A group of residents dedicated to providing information to applicants about the program, New Haven, and interview process, with projects such as designing the website, Q&A sessions, and communicating with the applicants!