The Wellness Mission for Emory Emergency Medicine is to contribute to Emory’s recognition as a ‘best place to work’ by creating and maintaining a working environment that nurtures the well-being and professional fulfillment of all staff.
It’s such an exciting time for Emory Emergency Medicine as we continue to grow and lead nationally in wellness, community, engagement, and belonging. The Wellness Committee strives to provide local, regional, and national leadership toward improving the health and wellness of all physicians, healthcare providers, and staff. The committee continues to support scholarly and social outlets to grow and foster the Emory EM community. To take care of others, you must first take care of yourself.
Goal: Moving Emory EM From Excellence to Eminence in Physician and APP Well Being
Emory has provided substantive leadership during the initial and mid-phase response to the national problem of burnout in our profession. We maintain a leadership presence on key national institutional and local committees. We have adopted an evidence-based model of physician fulfillment that identifies operational efficiency, institutional culture, and individual resilience as the three most important factors. We are exploring innovative models to address these contributing factors, with the goal of remaining a nationally-recognized leader in physician, APP and staff wellbeing.
We welcome interested staff, residents, APPs, and faculty to join us in our regular committee meetings and initiatives. The more voices, ideas, and energy we contribute to this important topic, the more we can effect positive change!
Recent Initiatives
- Department mini-grants for staff, resident, APP, and faculty-initiated wellness innovations
- “Chomp and Chart” initiative to encourage healthy eating, cognitive recuperation, and improved on-time charting for residents
- Monthly resident/faculty social outings
- Emergency Poetry undergraduate course
- Joint Conference with Trauma Surgery on Language with Pulitzer Prize winning poet Prof. Jericho Brown
- Intercollegiate initiative with hospital medicine - social gatherings and joint Journal Clubs
- Annual resident lectures and retreat exercises on culture building, mindfulness, change management, and other important wellbeing topics
- Collaboration with the Grady Flourishing Committee to identify wellness contributors and challenges among physicians and APPs at Grady
Key Publications
Zdradzinski MJ, Lindsey S, Anand R, Dixit S, Ehrhardt T, Lall MD, Moran TP, Kaplan DM, O'Shea J. The R.E.S.T. Initiative: A Pilot Program to Enhance Resident Performance by Taking Breaks On-Shift. AEM Educ Train. 2025 Dec 2;9(6):e70112. doi: 10.1002/aet2.70112. PMID: 41347027; PMCID: PMC12672187.
O'Shea J, Vu S, Siegelman J, Heron S, Lall M. "Breaking" the Emergency Department: Does the Culture of Emergency Medicine Present a Barrier to Self-Care? West J Emerg Med. 2020 Feb 21;21(2):313-321. doi: 10.5811/westjem.2019.10.44584. PMID: 32191188; PMCID: PMC7081850.
Zdradzinski, Michael J.; O'Shea, James; Moran, Timothy P.; Caro, David; Gomes, Paula G.; Huskey, Robin; Heron, Sheryl L.; and Lall, Michelle D. (2020) "A Comprehensive Residency Wellness Curriculum," Journal of Wellness: Vol. 2 : Iss. 1 , Article 1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18297/jwellness/vol2/iss1/1
O'Shea, James; Dannenfelser, Mark; White, Melissa; Osborne, Anwar; Moran, Timothy P.; and Lall, Michelle D. (2022) "A Resident Retreat with Emergency Medicine Specific Mindfulness Training Significantly Reduces Burnout and Perceived Stress," Journal of Wellness: Vol. 4 : Iss. 1 , Article 3.
Lall MD, Perman SM, Garg N, Kohn N, Whyte K, Gips A, Madsen T, Baren JM, Linden J. Intention to Leave Emergency Medicine: Mid-career Women Are at Increased Risk. West J Emerg Med. 2020 Aug 21;21(5):1131-1139. doi: 10.5811/westjem.2020.5.47313. PMID: 32970566; PMCID: PMC7514417.
Lall MD, Gaeta TJ, Chung AS, Chinai SA, Garg M, Husain A, Kanter C, Khandelwal S, Rublee CS, Tabatabai RR, Takayesu JK, Zaher M, Himelfarb NT. Erratum: This Article Corrects: "Assessment of Physician Well-being, Part Two: Beyond Burnout". West J Emerg Med. 2020 Mar 26;21(3):727. doi: 10.5811/westjem.2020.3.47433. Erratum for: West J Emerg Med. 2019 Mar;20(2):291-304. doi: 10.5811/westjem.2019.1.39666. PMID: 32421526; PMCID: PMC7234704.
Lall MD, Gaeta TJ, Chung AS, Dehon E, Malcolm W, Ross A, Way DP, Weichenthal L, Himelfarb NT. This Article Corrects:" Assessment of Physician Well-being, Part One: Burnout and Other Negative States". West J Emerg Med. 2021 Sep 2;22(5):1210. doi: 10.5811/westjem.2021.9.54611. Erratum for: West J Emerg Med. 2019 Mar;20(2):278-290. doi: 10.5811/westjem.2019.1.39665. PMID: 34546900; PMCID: PMC8463056.
Lall MD, Chang BP, Park J, Tabatabai RR, Manfredi RA, Baren JM, Castillo J. Are emergency physicians satisfied? An analysis of operational/organization factors. J Am Coll Emerg Physicians Open. 2021 Dec 21;2(6):e12546. doi: 10.1002/emp2.12546. PMID: 34984412; PMCID: PMC8692211.
Lu DW, Lee J, Alvarez A, Sakamoto JT, Bird SB, Sundaram V, Lall MD, Nordenholz KE, Manfredi RA, Blomkalns AL. Drivers of professional fulfillment and burnout among emergency medicine faculty: A national wellness survey by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. Acad Emerg Med. 2022 Aug;29(8):987-998. doi: 10.1111/acem.14487. Epub 2022 Apr 22. PMID: 35304931.
Seitz R, Robertson J, Moran TP, Zdradzinski MJ, Kaltiso SO, Heron S, Lall MD. Emergency Medicine Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistant Burnout, Perceived Stress, and Utilization of Wellness Resources During 2020 in a Large Urban Medical Center. Adv Emerg Nurs J. 2022 Jan-Mar 01;44(1):63-73. doi: 10.1097/TME.0000000000000392. PMID: 35089284.
Barton MA, Lall MD, Johnston MM, Lu DW, Nelson LS, Bilimoria KY, Reisdorff EJ. Reliability and validity support for an abbreviated Copenhagen burnout inventory using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. J Am Coll Emerg Physicians Open. 2022 Aug 8;3(4):e12797. doi: 10.1002/emp2.12797. PMID: 35949274; PMCID: PMC9358756.
Lu DW, Zhan T, Bilimoria KY, Reisdorff EJ, Barton MA, Nelson LS, Beeson MS, Lall MD. Workplace Mistreatment, Career Choice Regret, and Burnout in Emergency Medicine Residency Training in the United States. Ann Emerg Med. 2023 Jun;81(6):706-714. doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2022.10.015. Epub 2023 Feb 7. PMID: 36754699.
Akhavan AR, Zhan T, Lall MD, Barton MA, Reisdorff EJ, Hu YY, Bilimoria KY, Lu DW. Suicidal ideation, perception of personal safety, and career regret among emergency medicine residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. AEM Educ Train. 2024 Mar 20;8(2):e10955. doi: 10.1002/aet2.10955. PMID: 38516253; PMCID: PMC10951625.
Reisdorff EJ, Johnston MM, Lall MD, Lu DW, Bilimoria KY, Barton MA. Prospective validity evidence for the abbreviated emergency medicine Copenhagen Burnout Inventory. Acad Emerg Med. 2024 Aug;31(8):782-788. doi: 10.1111/acem.14892. Epub 2024 Mar 17. PMID: 3849465
