Edward M. Ellison, MD, shares insights on the importance of gratitude in Medscape story

There is raised awareness regarding physician wellness “and it is absolutely imperative that we start upstream,” says Edward M. Ellison, MD, executive medical director and chairman at the Southern California Permanente Medical Group, underscoring the importance of providing tools to help promote wellness during residency training.

The comments by Dr. Ellison, who also serves as chairman and chief executive officer, The Southeast Permanente Medical Group, and co-chief executive officer, The Permanente Federation, appear in a recent Medscape Medical News story titled “Gratitude Journaling Boosts Wellness in Psychiatry Residents.”

The story focuses on a new Harvard Medical School study that shows gratitude journaling can improve quality of life in psychiatry residents by boosting feelings of well-being. The findings, reported at the recent American Psychiatric Association 2019 Annual Meeting in San Francisco, arrive at a time when concern about resident wellness is increasing.

“Studies show that medical students have a higher sense of optimism, wellness, and resilience as they enter medical school than those entering any other graduate field of study – and yet by the time they graduate, their resilience, optimism, wellness is worse than graduates of other fields of study,” says Dr. Ellison.

Dr. Ellison adds that the new Harvard Medical School study supports similar findings about the importance of gratitude.

“There is a lot of work on gratitude in general and a lot of data that supports that just spending a few minutes a day journaling, or even just taking a few minutes a day and thinking of 3 things you are grateful for can make a difference in your emotional well-being,” says Dr. Ellison.

The full article requires registration for access. To learn more, visit the Medscape website.