Leadership & Management
The Supportive Leader:
Stress Management for Frontline Faculty
Stress Management for Frontline Faculty
By Teresa Chan (@TChanMD)
Originally Published, March 23, 2020
The news is abuzz with lots about COVID-19 and much of it highlights the impact it has had on frontline healthcare workers. Whether you are a front-line healthcare practitioner or not, you probably know someone who is. And as such, it might be good to have a few resources to share with them, or to have in your back pocket when they are seeking your support or counsel.
Here are some resources you might consider that can be helpful for guiding others to manage stress during these highly uncertain times:
Newly created by and for frontline practitioners, Dr. Matthew Zuckerman from the University of Colorado has launched a podcast to support their frontline faculty. They've also created a handout guide sheet and a reference card.
Dr. Sara Gray is a faculty member at the University of Toronto, and is an intensivist and emergency physician at St. Michael's hospital. She shares her wisdom about how she handles her failure better by having a "failure friend".
To the right is a link to her recorded talk at the inaugural FeminEM conference in 2017.
Read her accompanying blog post here.
Brown's work has resonated with millions of people around the world. You may know her from her books (Daring Greatly, Dare to Lead), her TED talks, or her Netflix special. A social worker and PhD scientist by training, her work has focused heavily on studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy.
A classic video to share in these dark times - Shawn Achor, a former instructor at various Ivy League institutions, quickly summarizes some evidence-based techniques for improving our lives from the findings of the Harvard Happiness Project.
You can find out more about his book here.
A very long post by a very prolific emergency medicine blogger, Dr. Justin Morgenstern from the University of Toronto. For those who have the time to read, it is a treatise on stress management - complete with in depth review of the science of stress.
Dr. Teresa Chan (@TChanMD) is an associate professor in the Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Medicine at McMaster University. She is the assistant dean for McMaster Faculty of Health Sciences Program for Faculty Development (@MacPFD). She is an avid scholar in health professions education and works with the MERIT group (@MERIT_McMaster), and conducts research and scholarship within this area.