Do Resident Coaching Programs Benefit their Coaches? Impact of a Professional Development Coaching Program on The Coaches

Abstract

Background Coaching has been shown to decrease physician burnout; however, coachee outcomes have been the focus. We report the impact of coaching on women-identifying surgeons who participated as coaches in a 9-month virtual program. Methods A coaching program was implemented in the Association of Women Surgeons (AWS) to determine the effects of coaching on well-being and burnout from 2018 to 2020. AWS members volunteered and completed training in professional development coaching. Pre- and post-study measures were assessed, and bivariate analysis performed based on burnout and professional fulfillment score. Results Seventy-five coaches participated; 57 completed both pre- and post-study surveys. There were no significant changes in burnout or professional fulfillment including the Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationship, Meaning, and Accomplishment scale, hardiness, self-valuation, coping, gratitude, or intolerance of uncertainty scores from baseline to post-survey. On bivariate analysis, hardiness was associated with lower burnout throughout the duration of the program. Coaches with lower burnout at the end of the program met with their coachee more frequently than coaches with higher burnout [mean (SD) 3.95(2.16) versus 2.35(2.13) p = 0.0099]. Discussion Burnout and professional fulfillment demonstrated no change in women surgeons who participated as professional development coaches. Those with lower burnout and higher professional fulfillment at the end of the program were found to have higher hardiness, which may be worth future investigation. Conclusions Acquisition of coaching skills did not directly improve well-being in faculty who participated in a resident coaching program. Future studies would benefit from control groups and exploration of qualitative benefits of coaching.

Coaching the Coach to Reduce Burnout: Commentary on Do Resident Coaching Programs Benefit Their Coaches? Impact of a Professional Development Coaching Program on the Coaches

“…Additionally, the authors noted that hardiness, defined as ''the ability to adapt under stressful conditions while maintaining emotional stability,'' was associated with less burnout [1]. This finding is consistent with literature noting hardiness to have a protective effect across multiple highstress professions.…”

“…Ultimately, Merrill et al [1] failed to reveal a significant improvement in burnout in the studied coaches. But importantly, the study did reveal burnout stability during the COVID pandemic, a time when the rate of physician burnout was shown to significantly rise.…”

“…Merrill et al [1] sought to evaluate the role of coaching on burnout and well‐being among surgeon coaches. Coaching is defined as a relationship between an individual coachee and coach with the specific purpose to help the coachee develop and achieve professional and personal goals.…”

Implementing coaching programmes for healthcare professionals—A review of the barriers and facilitators

“…In addition to this, delineating programme time-commitment and responsibilities was viewed as a key facilitator to programme success. 50 To create clarity around roles and time-commitment informational videos, 47 in-person discussions with HCPs, 42 word-of-mouth, 51 and e-mail or social media [52][53][54] were used.…”

“…Furthermore, Teaming during the programme development, with programme leaders, the International Federation of Coaching, or HCPs, supported later implementation. 45,51,53,56,57,62 Lastly, under Reflecting & Evaluating the need for continuous programme monitoring and improvement was described. This was considered a facilitator as it could reinforce leadership buy-in.…”