StopTheStigmaEM: Shining a light on the hidden mental health experiences of Emergency Physicians (Wellness Committee and Telehealth Interest Group Sponsored)

At SAEM23, we followed in the footsteps of John Fryer, who in 1972 wore a Nixon mask at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association and said “ I am homosexual, and I am a psychiatrist’. It caused the APA to delist homosexuality as a mental illness and ushered in a groundswell of other disclosures that forced the association to destigmatize first its own members and then its patients. During SAEM23, we invited SAEM members to anonymously share their stories online and then gave voice to those stories in front of an audience generating a discussion. In a perfect world anonymity isn’t necessary, but unfortunately the world within which EM physicians hide a range of mental health experiences is not perfect. Also in a perfect world, one session would be enough for change. We don't live in a perfect world though. This year, we hope to reach a larger audience and continue to give voice to the anonymous EM physicians who share stories of their experiences with mental illness and further the discussion of mental health in EM.

Presenters:

  • Christine R. Stehman, MD
  • James T. O'Shea, MBBS
  • Anish K. Agarwal, MD, MPH, MS
  • Al'ai Alvarez, MD
  • Amanda M. Ritchie, MD
  • Amanda J. Deutsch, MD
  • Suzanne (Suzi) Bentley, MD, MPH
Authors

  • Christine R. Stehman, MD

    Director of Wellness Education

    University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria

    Christine Stehman, MD is a visiting Clinical Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at University of Illinois College of Medicine, Peoria where she serves as the Director of Wellness Education and Director of Faculty Development. She arrived in Peoria after following a circuitous route including two stops in Chicago separated by service in the US Navy including two combat deployments with the USMC, and fellowship training in Boston. Within the world of Emergency Medicine, outside of her clinical duties, she serves as a guest mentor for the ALiEM Faculty Incubator, a mentor for the CORD Mini-Fellowship in Wellness Leadership, as a member on a number of CORD and SAEM committees, and as a reviewer for a number of journals. In her non-emergency medicine life, she serves as a role model for what she teaches: taking time to travel, spend time with her friends, family and dogs, working out, and reading.

  • James T. O'Shea, MBBS, MA, FACEP

    Emory University

    James O’Shea MBBS, MA, FACEP completed medical school at King’s College in London and Emergency Medicine residency at Newark Beth Israel in New Jersey. He has an MA in Psychology from Trinity College Dublin. He has worked at Emory since 2015, serving as the Director of Postgraduate Medical Education and Assistant Program Director. He is currently Co-Chair of the Departmental Wellness Committee and serves on the SAEM National Wellness and Consult Committees. He has a research interest in the application of cognitive psychology and contemplative practices such as meditation and compassion in Emergency Medicine clinical practice. He is a graduate of the Stanford Wellbeing Director’s course and has recently completed a year-long training as a facilitator of the Mindful Practice in Medicine course through the University of Rochester.

  • Anish K. Agarwal, MD, MPH, MS

    Penn Medicine-Department of Emergency Medicine

    Dr. Agarwal is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Chief Wellness Officer at the University of Pennsylvania. He is an NIH funded physician scientist and has specific focus on clinician well-being, digital health, and patient engagement.
  • alai.alvarez - Al'ai Alvarez

    Al'ai Alvarez, MD

    SAEM Nominating Committee Member

    Stanford Emergency Medicine

    My long-term interest is to study the intersection of Medical Education, Process Improvement (Quality and Clinical Operations), Representation (Diversity), and Well-being (Inclusion/Belonging) through human-centered design. My academic and professional experience has provided me with an excellent background in understanding the drivers for professional fulfillment in medicine and its interplay on efficiencies of care, the culture of wellness, and personal resilience, as highlighted by Stanford WellMD’s Professional Fulfillment Model. Specifically, my work investigates the role of self-compassion and resilience in promoting belongingness and overcoming isolation and loneliness in medicine exacerbated by experiences of medical harm, vicarious trauma, implicit bias, microaggressions, and imposter phenomenon.

    I graduated from the faculty fellowship at the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign, where I explored the role of mindfulness in resuscitations. Furthermore, I co-directed and organized the inaugural High-Performance Resuscitation Teams Summit in May 2022 in Chicago, IL, in collaboration with Mayo Clinic and the Mission Critical Teams Institute, to understand commonalities among high-performing teams in healthcare, aerospace, sports, military, special operations, and fire rescue.

    As an attending EM physician, I served as the Assistant Medical Director on Quality Education and Clinical Operations at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Emergency Department (ED), the busiest ED in Northern California. This role offered me direct insight into drivers of burnout through inefficiencies in clinical practice and the need for a culture of wellness, especially in quality improvement and peer review. As an Associate Residency Program Director at the Stanford Emergency Medicine Residency Program (2015-2021), I led initiatives to enhance personal resilience while advocating for improving the clinical and learning environment to improve well-being and professional fulfillment.

    Currently, I am the Director of Well-Being and co-chair of the Human Potential Team at Stanford Emergency Medicine. I also serve as the Stanford EM Physician Wellness Fellowship Director. As the chair of the Stanford WellMD Physician Wellness Forum, I lead monthly discussions to understand how better to optimize clinical practice environments to improve well-being and professional work-life balance.

    As Chair of the SAEM Wellness Committee (2022- ), we are spearheading the “October is #StopTheStigmaEM month,” which has been the most extensive campaign for SAEM, mobilizing national organizations in EM and leveraging social media to increase awareness and support efforts to humanize physicians, prioritize mental health, and normalize receiving mental health support.

    Given my disparate physician leadership and clinical experience, I offer a unique and valuable perspective in serving on the Nominations Committee. I aim to continue fostering collaboration, empowerment, and self-compassion in academic emergency medicine's learning and work environment. This includes finding ways to recognize the work of academic EM physicians and EM bound trainees.

  • Amanda M. Ritchie, MD

    Louisiana State University

    Dr. Amanda Michelle Ritchie is a 4th year resident in the Internal Medicine / Emergency Medicine program at Louisiana State University in New Orleans. Dr. Ritchie initially trained as a registered nurse in Canada before pursuing her degree in medicine.

  • Amanda J. Deutsch, MD

    Thomas Jefferson University

    Dr. Amanda J. Deutsch, MD is a Clinical Assistant Professor and Director of Well-Being for the Department of Emergency Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University. Dr. Deutsch earned her undergraduate degree at Harvard University. She subsequently completed her post-baccalaureate and did quality improvement research at Boston Children’s Hospital before starting her career as a medical student at the University of Iowa, where she is from. She completed an Emergency Medicine residency at the University of Pennsylvania, where she completed a track in Healthcare Leadership and Quality Improvement. She most recently completed a fellowship in Physician Wellness at Stanford Emergency Medicine. In her inaugural role as Director of Well-Being at the Department of Emergency Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University she combines her interests in clinical operations, process improvements and well-being.

    Dr. Deutsch chairs the #StopTheStigmaEM subcommittee and hopes to normalize conversations around mental health for emergency medicine physicians, address barriers, and foster better mental health care for emergency medicine. Her interests include focusing on gratitude and appreciation to develop a sense of community and a team that can excel for their patients without the cost of their interests, self, and career. Dr. Deutsch loves to tweak process improvements to help foster well-being.

  • Suzanne (Suzi) Bentley, MD, MPH

    Chief Wellness Officer

    NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst

    Suzanne (Suzi) Bentley, MD, MPH, is the Chief Wellness Officer, Director of Simulation Innovation & Research, and an Emergency Medicine physician at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst. She is a Professor of Emergency Medicine and Medical Education at the Icahn SOM at Mount Sinai. Dr. Bentley completed the Mount Sinai Emergency Medicine residency, Masters of Public Health at Mount Sinai, and a fellowship in Simulation Education at the Institute for Medical Simulation and Advanced Learning of Health + Hospitals. Dr. Bentley stayed on as faculty at Elmhurst after training and served as residency Site Director before transitioning to Medical Director of Simulation and collaborating on opening the hospital-wide Simulation Center. She credits her passion for and expertise in debriefing as the unifier in her professional roles. She led the initiation of Helping Healers Heal at Elmhurst and became the first Health + Hospitals site Chief Wellness Officer in 2021. Dr. Bentley is a clinician, educator, and researcher with focused interests in debriefing, psychological safety, Insitu simulation, simulation for systems testing, teamwork maximization, patient and workforce safety, Safety II principles, and overall workforce well-being and advocacy. She advocates for workforce well-being improvements through focus on the integral connection between quality, patient safety, and workforce well-being.

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