Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40611100›Full record

SynthesisBMC health services research2025

Effectiveness of wellness program interventions to improve physician wellness: a systematic review.

Nikola Kolobaric, Benjamin Milone, Maria Salman, Amos Buh, Nandini Biyani, Gamal Wafy, Stephen G Fung, Mekaylah Scott, Rohan Kiska, Rachel Kang and 13 more

Abstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in BMC health services research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Article
  3. Health conditions that impact fitness-to-practice in physicians: a scoping review.International journal for quality in health care : journal of the International Society for Quality in Health Care · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

23 authors.

Nikola KolobaricOttawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus, 2-014 Administrative Services Building, 1053 Carling Avenue, Box 693, Ottawa, ON, K1Y 4E9, Canada.
Benjamin MiloneOttawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus, 2-014 Administrative Services Building, 1053 Carling Avenue, Box 693, Ottawa, ON, K1Y 4E9, Canada.
Maria SalmanOttawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus, 2-014 Administrative Services Building, 1053 Carling Avenue, Box 693, Ottawa, ON, K1Y 4E9, Canada.
Amos BuhOttawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus, 2-014 Administrative Services Building, 1053 Carling Avenue, Box 693, Ottawa, ON, K1Y 4E9, Canada.
Nandini BiyaniOttawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus, 2-014 Administrative Services Building, 1053 Carling Avenue, Box 693, Ottawa, ON, K1Y 4E9, Canada.
Gamal WafyOttawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus, 2-014 Administrative Services Building, 1053 Carling Avenue, Box 693, Ottawa, ON, K1Y 4E9, Canada.
Stephen G FungBruyère Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
Mekaylah ScottOttawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus, 2-014 Administrative Services Building, 1053 Carling Avenue, Box 693, Ottawa, ON, K1Y 4E9, Canada.
Rohan KiskaOttawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus, 2-014 Administrative Services Building, 1053 Carling Avenue, Box 693, Ottawa, ON, K1Y 4E9, Canada.
Rachel KangOttawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus, 2-014 Administrative Services Building, 1053 Carling Avenue, Box 693, Ottawa, ON, K1Y 4E9, Canada.
Kathryn LeeOttawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus, 2-014 Administrative Services Building, 1053 Carling Avenue, Box 693, Ottawa, ON, K1Y 4E9, Canada.
Sarah SyedOttawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus, 2-014 Administrative Services Building, 1053 Carling Avenue, Box 693, Ottawa, ON, K1Y 4E9, Canada.
Maya GibbOttawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus, 2-014 Administrative Services Building, 1053 Carling Avenue, Box 693, Ottawa, ON, K1Y 4E9, Canada.
Shan DhaliwalOttawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus, 2-014 Administrative Services Building, 1053 Carling Avenue, Box 693, Ottawa, ON, K1Y 4E9, Canada.
Daniel MyranOttawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus, 2-014 Administrative Services Building, 1053 Carling Avenue, Box 693, Ottawa, ON, K1Y 4E9, Canada.
Courtney MaskerineBruyère Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
Pierre Antoine BrownOttawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus, 2-014 Administrative Services Building, 1053 Carling Avenue, Box 693, Ottawa, ON, K1Y 4E9, Canada.
Ayub AkbariOttawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus, 2-014 Administrative Services Building, 1053 Carling Avenue, Box 693, Ottawa, ON, K1Y 4E9, Canada.
Gregory L HundemerOttawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus, 2-014 Administrative Services Building, 1053 Carling Avenue, Box 693, Ottawa, ON, K1Y 4E9, Canada.
Peter TanuseputroDeparment of Family Medicine and Primary Care, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Deena FremontOttawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus, 2-014 Administrative Services Building, 1053 Carling Avenue, Box 693, Ottawa, ON, K1Y 4E9, Canada.
Edward Spilg *Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus, 2-014 Administrative Services Building, 1053 Carling Avenue, Box 693, Ottawa, ON, K1Y 4E9, Canada.
Manish M Sood *Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus, 2-014 Administrative Services Building, 1053 Carling Avenue, Box 693, Ottawa, ON, K1Y 4E9, Canada. msood@toh.ca.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPhysician wellness programs are being implemented to offset rises in physician burnout. Insight into the effectiveness of these programs and to whom they are being offered, remains unclear.

objectivesTo identify and characterize wellness program interventions to improve physician wellness.

methodsA PRISMA-P 2020-compliant systematic review as conducted, searching PubMed, Scopus, and Medline from May 2006 to July 2024. Search terms included Medical Subject Headings terms and keywords related to physicians and wellness program interventions. Peer reviewed published studies that qualitatively and/or quantitively measured outcomes of wellness interventions for practicing physicians were included.

resultsThirty-six studies involving 6,708 total participants were included. Interventions were heterogenous and included group therapy, stress reduction strategies, time off/workload reductions, education, and peer support. The efficacy of interventions varied, with sixteen studies (44.4%) demonstrating some measurable degree of effectiveness, with statistically significant changes (p < 0.05) post-intervention. Few studies reported improvements by physician sex, age groups, or comparisons across specialities.

conclusionStudies examining physician wellness program interventions are highly heterogenous in terms of intervention, study design and methods of outcome assessment, limiting definitive conclusions about their general effectiveness.

trial registrationThe review protocol has been registered on Open Science Framework ( https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/8SDM9 ).

Indexed as

Burnout, ProfessionalHealth PromotionPhysiciansHumansProgram EvaluationInterventionsPhysician healthPhysician wellness

Identifiers

PMID40611100
PMCPMC12225123

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.