The Southern Medical Journal (SMJ) is the official, peer-reviewed journal of the Southern Medical Association. It has a multidisciplinary and inter-professional focus that covers a broad range of topics relevant to physicians and other healthcare specialists.
SMJ // Article
Original Article
Utilizing Learning Communities to Implement a Wellness-in-Action Session in Undergraduate Medical Education
Abstract
Objectives: Learning communities (LCs) are on the rise in medical education. Key features of LCs include fostering student learning, wellness, and engagement. The ways in which different programs are currently using LCs are still relatively new, however, and literature on this topic is scarce. We developed and incorporated a wellness-in-action session, coined Brian’s Field Day, into our LC curriculum with the aim to improve self-care, camaraderie, and socialization.Methods: More than 180 first-year medical students and 20 LC faculty advisors participated in Brian’s Field Day, a large-scale 1-hour wellness-in-action session, in academic years (AYs) 2021–2022 and 2022–2023. The session was divided into different activities, including yoga, meditation, dodgeball, kickball, coloring, pet therapy, board games, walking, improvisation, and Zumba. All students received an electronic survey assessing their perceptions of the activity.
Results: The overall response rate was 47% (86/183 students) in AY 2021–2022 and 49% (90/182 students) in AY 2022–2023. Overall, postactivity perceptions were positive with mean scores ranging from 4.00 to 4.61 (standard deviation [SD] range ± 0.69–1.30) for “enjoyment,” “improved camaraderie,” “should continue as part of the curriculum,” and “would like more events like this.” The mean was 3.96 (SD ±1.15) and 3.83 (SD ±1.38) for “improving self-care” in AY 2021–2022 and AY 2022–2023, respectively. Themed qualitative comments also indicated improved student–student and faculty–student bonding and the desire for more similar activities.
Conclusions: Academic stress among medical students is high and many schools have incorporated LCs into their curricula to help with socialization and promotion of wellness and community. As more schools adopt LCs, they should consider integrating a wellness-in-action session as a fun way to augment both peer-to-peer and student–faculty relationships.
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