title: Emergency medicine resident well-being: stress and satisfaction.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Emergency medicine (EM) residents are exposed to many work-related stressors, which affect them both physically and emotionally. It is unknown, however, how EM residents perceive the effect of these stressors on their well-being and how often they use unhealthy coping mechanisms to manage stress.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate EM residents' perceptions of stressors related to their overall well-being and the prevalence of various coping mechanisms.
  
  
  METHODS
  An online survey instrument was developed to gauge resident stress, satisfaction with current lifestyle, stress coping mechanisms and demographics. A stratified random sample of EM residents from three postgraduate years (PGY-I, PGY-II and PGY-III) was obtained. Descriptive statistics and one-way analysis of variance were used to compare residents across PGY level.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 120 potential participants in each of the three PGYs. The overall response rate was 30% (109) with mean age of 30 and 61% were male. On a 0-4 scale (0 = completely dissatisfied), respondents in PGY-I reported significantly less satisfaction with lifestyle than those in PGY-II and III (mean rating: 1.29, 1.66 and 1.70, respectively; P < 0.001). There were no significant differences in mean ratings between PGYs on each of the other stress categories: work relationships (1.37), work environment (1.10) and response to patients (1.08). Residents reported exercise (94%), hobbies (89%) and use of alcohol (71%) as coping methods.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Residents reported low satisfaction with current lifestyle. This dissatisfaction was unrelated to perceived work-related stress. Some undesirable coping methods were prevalent, suggesting that training programs could focus on promotion of healthy group activities.
authors.affiliation: Center for Trauma and Injury Prevention Research, University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, Irvine, CA, USA.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hoonpongsimanont
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nasir
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Compton
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000193:education*; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008297:Male; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D016526:Workload / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Alcohol; coping mechanism; emergency medicine resident; lifestyle satisfaction; residency training; stress management; well-being; wellness; work stressors; workplace health promotion.