Wellness Committee
Who We Are
The Wellness Committee studies root causes of burnout and promote wellness and career longevity for AAEM members.
Leadership
Al’ai Alvarez, MD FAAEM
Co–Chair
Neeharika Bhatnagar, MD FAAEM
Co-Chair
Jennifer Kanapicki Comer, MD FAAEM
Vice Chair
Robert P. Lam, MD FAAEM
Board Liaison
Roxanne Dobbs
Staff Liaison
Our Projects
Below are links to online anonymous self-tests:
- Burnout Survey
- Depression Screen
- Stress Screen
- Promote Resiliency and Prevent Compassion Fatigue: The Helper Pocket Card
From the American Medical Association: Creating the Organizational Foundation for Joy in Medicine™
Wellness Committee Book Club
The AAEM Wellness Committee invites physicians to watch their book club meeting discussing a book titled “Maybe You Should Talk to Someone” – an initiative for National Physician Suicide Awareness.
National Physician Suicide Awareness Day
In order to address the issue of physician suicide, the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors (CORD), in collaboration with AAEM, ACEP, ACOEP, EMRA, RSA, RSO and SAEM have come together to annually dedicate September 17th as National Physician Suicide Awareness (NPSA) Day.
BeThe1To
AAEM and RSA have also partnered with the #BeThe1To campaign. #BeThe1To is a campaign organized by the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and the Mental Health Association of New York City. AAEM has partnered with 6 other emergency medicine organizations to customize this campaign for emergency physicians. The partner organizations include:
American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP)
American College of Osteopathic Emergency Physicians (ACOEP)
Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors (CORD)
Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association (EMRA)
AAEM Resident and Student Association (AAEM/RSA)
Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM)
Take 5 to Save Lives
AAEM has partnered with the Take 5 to Save Lives campaign. The five steps identified by the National Council for Suicide Prevention (NCSP) are:
Breaking the Silence: Preventing Physician Suicide
A spotlight on physician suicide based on a personal struggle.
Presented by Loice Swisher, MD FAAEM at AAEM17.
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Joint Letter to Congress Urging inclusion of the Targeted and Limited Liability Protections in Bipartisan Bill, H.R. 7059, the “Coronavirus Provider Protection Act”
Dear Speaker Pelosi, Leader McConnell, Leader McCarthy, and Leader Schumer: The undersigned state, specialty, and national medical associations represent hundreds of thousands of frontline medical and mental health physicians who are diagnosing, testing, treating, and counseling millions of our nation’s patients in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. During this unprecedented national health emergency, physicians and […] -
Joint Letter to Oppose H.R. 884 / S. 2772 — The Medicare Mental Health Access Act
Dear Committee Leaders: The undersigned medical professional organizations write to you with an urgent request that impacts the quality of care that our nation’s patients receive. H.R. 884 / S. 2772, the “Medicare Mental Health Access Act,” would change the definition of “physician” under the Medicare program to include clinical psychologists. This proposal jeopardizes the […] -
Mental Health Care Stigma in EM
EM Physician Organizations Form Mental Health Collaborative, Issue Joint Statement and Call to Action Regarding Mental Health Care Stigma in EM Each year in the U.S., roughly 300 to 400 physicians die by suicide1 — approximately double the suicide rate in the general population.2 More than half of physicians know of a physician who has […] -
Interruptions in the Emergency Department
Statement reviewed and approved by the AAEM Board of Directors. (4/23/2022) Every day, we manage many complicated patients in the fast-paced environment of the Emergency Department (ED). This work includes making phone calls, answering questions (from physicians, students, patients, and families), charting, and reviewing clinical data. The 2020 Position statement from the Academy of Academic […]
- Wellness Committee Recap of AAEM23 in News Orleans by Neha Bhatnagar, MD, Al’ai Alvarez, MD, and Jennifer Kanapicki-Comer, MD, May/June 2023
- Let the Good Times Roll: Wellness at Scientific Assembly in New Orleans by Alice Min, MD FAAEM, Al’ai Alvarez, MD FAAEM, and Robert Lam, MD FAAEM, January/February 2023
- Why Emergency Medicine, #StopTheStigmaEM, and the Future of our Specialty by Stephanie Balint, MS2, Jonathan Warren, MD PGY-3, Amanda J. Deutsch, MD, Alice Min Simpkins, MD FAAEM, and Al’ai Alvarez, MD FAAEM, November/December 2022
- We Are At Risk by Loice Swisher, MD MAAEM FAAEM, September/October 2022
- A Renewed Mission by Alice Min Simpkins, MD FAAEM and Al’ai Alvarez, MD FAAEM, July/August 2022
- A Colleague is Making You Unwell: Options? by David Hoyer, MD, May/June 2022
- Stop Normalizing the Abuse of Residents by Brendan James Flanagan, MD, January/February 2022
- Self-Compassion, Self-Valuation, and Boundary Setting in Emergency Medicine by Al’ai Alvarez, MD, January/February 2022
- From Hero to Zero: Naiken, COVID-19, and Ways to Develop Empathy Despite Patients’ Challenging Life Choices by Andrew Grock, MD, Al’ai Alvarez, MD FAAEM, and Ilene Claudius, MD FAAEM, November/December 2021
- Perfectionism: Our Dangerous Frenemy by Ilene Claudius, MD FAAEM, Al’ai Alvarez, MD FAAEM, and Andrew Grock, MD, November/December 2021
- Stop Stigmatizing Suicide by Loice A. Swisher, MD MAAEM FAAEM, September/October 2022
- Verbal Abuse by Robyn Hitchcock, MD FAAEM, July/August 2021
- Bringing Wellness to Your Organization: Highlights from the AAEM Leadership Academy 2021, by Al’ai Alvarez, MD FAAEM and Robert Lam, MD FAAEM, May/June 2021
- It’s Time to Take Care of Those Who Take Care of Us by Robert Lam, MD FAAEM, March/April 2021
- Peer Coaching: A Strategy for Development and Wellbeing by Alice A. Min, MD FAAEM and Carol Pak-Teng, MD FAAEM, January/February 2021
If you are interested in joining our committee, apply today!
Apply to Join a CommitteeAppointments are confirmed on a quarterly basis (January, April, July, October).