Burnout prevention coaching for medical students - short introduction
The 115 students from medical schools across the UK completed the Reboot coaching program as part of a study to evaluate whether it would improve their psychological resilience against depression, and burnout and increase their ability to cope with stressful work-related events. The scheme would be a perfect response to the government mishaps related to late junior doctors’ pay and stopped funding for the 350 extra places, which initially was planned to be used for a larger expansion of medical placements. Many critics pointed out to the Conservatives that without preventing brain drain and guaranteed to secure more spots for future medical students, it will take at least 21 years to fill vacant positions that already have been soaring like a thorn in the NHS side.
Until now, the support medical students received, such as mindfulness, stress management training, and yoga was too generic. These are the same tools offered to many people in the UK with severe mental health issues as a band-aid solution. There is no medical data that those specific methods bring any relief or improvements in depression and burnout, there are not even distractions. These interventions only make medical students leave the profession as soon as they qualify.
What do we know about Reboot coaching scheme?
Reboot was originally designed by Dr. Judith Johnson and her collaborators in the University of Leeds School of Psychology and the Bradford Institute for Health Research. Initially to prepare healthcare workers for a recovery after, stressful clinical events, medical students participated in two group online workshops and a one-to-one coaching call with a Reboot-trained licensed psychological therapist.
Participants provided data at:
Baseline (an analysis of the current situation to identify the starting points for a program or project)
Post-workshops
Post-coaching call
4-month follow-up
We cannot forget that every medical training costs a fortune. It's precise £124,895, and a calculation is based on how many years a medical student spends at university. The National Health Service (NHS) provides to undergraduate medical students a bursary to cover tuition fees after the fourth year. That means undergraduate medical students will pay a total of £37,000 (4 x £9,250) in tuition fees.
Furthermore, the cost of Reboot, on top of other schemes, is tiny. It works out as about £200 per person, which is less than the cost of a single agency shift to cover a doctor off sick for one day because of stress. Apart from that, Reboot seems to be effective, which means the cost-savings, in the long term, could be immense for the NHS and will bring savings the government is desperately searching for.
Written by Joanna
