It is not uncommon for residents to deprioritize or overlook their physical and emotional health while on “auto-pilot”, a gear typically observed in fast-paced training environments and associated with the multitude of responsibilities that beg for residents’ attention. As a result, we often see residents who feel significantly unfulfilled with their work, depleted and burned out, simply having “no more to give” and understandably needing time off.
We would like to offer you the opportunity to “take your pulse” on a regular basis and remain aware of your evolving mental health states throughout your training. Regular screenings leading to a clear identification of your fluctuating mental and emotional states can make a powerful contribution to prevention and timely intervention.
As such, we are pleased to offer you easy access to an electronic self-assessment tool, the Stanford Professional Fulfillment Index (PFI) (English only).
The PFI is a 16-item validated survey designed for physicians that measures professional fulfillment (intrinsic positive reward derived from work) and burnout (work exhaustion and interpersonal disengagement).
Although the PFI has traditionally been used for research purposes, we offer it to every post-graduate medical learner as a tool for private mental health “check-ins” and, therefore, have expanded it to include qualitative score interpretations alongside various curated and targeted resources to access, depending on where you find yourselves on the continuum of professional fulfillment and burnout.
Please note that no member of the Office of Medical Learner Affairs or 山ǿ PGME at large, including administrators and faculty, has access to learner scores.
We invite you to consider scheduling and creating reminders on your phone to complete the PFI! We also invite you to save your results every time on your personal devices, which will allow you to track your levels of professional fulfillment and burnout over time.
Although the Office of Medical Learner Affairs counselling services are included in the recommended resources on the basis of your scores, we remain available to you throughout your medical training should you need support.
We hope the PFI will prove to be a useful tool in helping you safeguard your physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
**IMPORTANT NOTE FOR MAC USERS: Please make sure to click on “Enable macros” in order for the instrument to work properly!
*CAUTION: You will need to download the tool on your device in order for it to work. After clicking on the above link, please click on File;Save As;Download a copy