Professional Coaching as a Continuing Professional Development Intervention to Address the Physician Distress Epidemic.

ABSTRACT: Physician distress and burnout are reaching epidemic proportions, threatening physicians' capacities to develop and maintain competencies in the face of the increasingly demanding and complex realities of medical practice in today's world. In this article, we suggest that coaching should be considered both a continuing professional development intervention as well as an integral part of a balanced and proactive solution to physician distress and burnout. Unlike other interventions, coaching is intended to help individuals gain clarity in their life, rather than to treat a mental health condition or to provide advice, support, guidance, or knowledge/skills. Certified coaches are trained to help individuals discover solutions to complex problems and facilitate decision-making about what is needed to build and maintain capacity and take action. Across many sectors, coaching has been shown to enhance performance and reduce vulnerability to distress and burnout, but it has yet to be systematically implemented in medicine. By empowering physicians to discover and implement solutions to challenges, regain control over their lives, and act according to their own values, coaching can position physicians to become leaders and advocates for system-level change, while simultaneously prioritizing their own well-being.

Impact of coaching on physician wellness: A systematic review.

Physician wellness is critical for patient safety and quality of care. Coaching has been successfully and widely applied across many industries to enhance well-being but has only recently been considered for physicians. This review aimed to summarize the existing evidence on the effect of coaching by trained coaches on physician well-being, distress and burnout. MEDLINE, Embase, ERIC, PsycINFO and Web of Science were searched without language restrictions to December 21, 2022. Studies of any design were included if they involved physicians of any specialty undergoing coaching by trained coaches and assessed at least one measure along the wellness continuum. Pairs of independent reviewers determined reference eligibility. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tools for Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) and for Non-randomized Studies of Interventions (ROBINS-I). Meta-analysis was not possible due to heterogeneity in study design and outcome measures as well as inconsistent reporting. The search retrieved 2531 references, of which 14 were included (5 RCTs, 2 non-randomized controlled studies, 4 before-and-after studies, 2 mixed-methods studies, 1 qualitative study). There were 1099 participants across all included studies. Risk of bias was moderate or serious for non-RCTs, while the 5 RCTs were of lower risk. All quantitative studies reported effectiveness of coaching for at least one outcome assessed. The included qualitative study reported a perceived positive impact of coaching by participants. Evidence from available RCTs suggests coaching for physicians can improve well-being and reduce distress/burnout. Non-randomized interventional studies have similar findings but face many limitations. Consistent reporting and standardized outcome measures are needed.