Wellness and Resilience

The mission of our POWER (Promoting Overall Well-being Engagement and Resilience) in Pediatrics initiative is to support individuals and groups in our department as we navigate the stressors in our system through programs that will reach and support everyone in Pediatrics. POWER’s vision is to create a departmental culture of well-being, engagement, and resilience with the following values:

• Empowering every individual to take an active role in building a community-oriented and supportive environment
• A multi-level, multidisciplinary effort to prevent burnout and moral injury
• Unifying well-being efforts across the department, including paying attention to what has worked at other institutions
• Engaging the science of well-being, including the principles of CBT, DBT, and trauma-informed care for our community at large
• An evidence-based approach to measure the impact of programs and initiatives 

Initially, department leadership launched POWER in Pediatrics in January 2020 to support our health care providers and learners through the challenges and stressors anticipated in our system as we transitioned to a new electronic record, EPIC. The department was fortunate to have POWER in place at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and has expanded POWER’s activities to meet new challenges.

POWER Advisory Board

The interdisciplinary POWER Advisory Board, with representation from multiple divisions and disciplines, continues to promote and support well-being initiatives throughout the department. The board co-chairs, supported by Marina Catallozzi, MD, MSCE, and Hannah Strauss, MBA, are:

• Michelle Bombacie, MS Dipl. Ac. (NCCAOM)
  • Manager, Integrative Therapies Program, Division of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology, & Stem Cell Transplantation
• Anita Patel, MPH
  • Deputy Department Administrator/Chief Operating Officer
• Art Smerling, MD
  • Faculty in Pediatric Critical Care and Hospital Medicine
• Amelia Warshaw, MD
  • PGY3 Resident and one of the Residency Wellness leads

Advisory Board Members: Dara Steinberg, PhD (Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplant); Tina Leone, MD (Neonatology); Julie Khlevner, MD (Gastroenterology); Sabrina Law, MD (Cardiology); Rose Chapman Rodriguez, NP (Nurse Practitioner Program Director); Susanne Bifano, MPS, LCAT, ATR-BC, MSEd (Child Life); Kanwal Farooqi, MD (Cardiology).

Board co-chairs meet regularly to develop a range of activities to engage our pediatric clinicians, staff, and learners. Additionally, the board meets monthly and continues its collaboration with the Columbia University Irving Medical Center cross-campus Wellness Leadership Team, led by Lourival Baptista, MD, to increase our capacity and resources in wellness and support.

In 2023:

• A POWER co-chair joined the CUIMC Well-Being Leadership Working Group Committee to help establish best practice guidelines through the committee's project, "Promoting efficiency in practice and team-based care."
• Art Smerling, MD, was nominated by the department to participate in the Well-Being Leadership Committee's first Wellcoaches Training.

2023 Initiatives

This past year, the POWER team supported the following initiatives and programs:

POWER Newsletter

The POWER newsletter transitioned from monthly to quarterly distribution for members of the department. Each issue highlights how an advisory board member incorporates wellness within his or her division.

Maslach Burnout Index and Areas of Worklife Survey

The first wave of the Department of Pediatrics' Maslach Burnout Index (MSBI) and Areas of Worklife Survey (AWS) overlapped with the start of the pandemic, and in 2022, learners, staff, and faculty in the department had a second opportunity to fill out the survey and other items related to departmental well-being. This data, in conjunction with CUIMC center-wide collected data, will help the POWER board better understand the changing needs of our faculty and staff, including how to support individual wellness and create a scaffolding within the department to amplify connection and gratitude. The POWER co-chairs also had the opportunity to contribute to the design of CUIMC’s center-wide wellness survey.

The Healthy Monday Employee Wellness Initiative

The Healthy Monday Employee Wellness Initiative offered to all faculty, trainees, and staff across CUIMC expanded outreach to the Columbia School of Nursing (CUSON) staff and faculty (cohort 2.) Content reflected evidence-based mind-body practices, including videos filmed by CUIMC experts. Through short surveys and questionnaires, the program is assessing the impact of weekly recommended self-care practice on attitudes toward self-care, stress, and burnout. Preliminary results show improved self-reported measures of well-being, including perceived stress and the importance of self-care to well-being, among CUIMC health care professionals. 

Integrative Therapies and POWER Lerner Fellowship Pilot Grant in Employee Wellness

The Department of Pediatrics, POWER, and the Integrative Therapies Program invited child health faculty, residents, and fellows to submit their project ideas (either individualized interventions or structured programming) for a department-wide initiative to become a Lerner Fellow. The Lerner Fellowship grant will support up to five project awards each year, cultivating those interested in research and clinical support advancing wellness. Applications addressing clinical programs, faculty/trainee/staff education, and/or institutional advocacy were encouraged.

The first two awardees, chosen based on novelty, need, merit, and advancement of employee wellness, are:

• Danielle Ahn, MD (Critical Care Medicine), CALM: Cultivating a Lifetime of Mindfulness in Pediatrics
• Sivan Kinberg, MD (Gastroenterology), The HEROES Room: Healthy Environment to Recharge and Optimize Energy and Spirit

Disseminating POWER

The POWER team was invited to share its experience promoting well-being in the Journal of Integrative and Complementary Therapies:

Catallozzi M, Bombacie M, Smerling A, Orange J, Runkle W, Strauss H. POWER: Promoting Overall Well-Being Engagement and Resilience in Pediatrics - Implementing a Department-Wide Initiative Including Students, Staff, and Faculty. Integrative and Complementary Therapies. DOI: 10.1089/ict.2023.29062.jha. Vol.29 No.2.Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. April 2023.

Pediatric Resident & Fellow Appreciation Day

POWER hosted a Resident & Fellow Appreciation Day, including on-site chair massage and acupuncture for the pediatric residents and fellows. Volunteer licensed massage therapists and students from the New York College of Healthcare helped create an oasis in the resident lounge/education suite with music, aromatherapy, and massage chairs arranged in a circular fashion, fostering a community of well-being.

 J.P. Morgan Run​

On June 1st, members of the department participated for the first time in the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge, a 3.5-mile run through Central Park, organized by POWER leadership along with Michael Nittolo (director of revenue cycle). Hannah Pai, marketing and communications officer, custom-designed our Pediatric POWER Runners t-shirts. The team's top finishers included Chris Petit, MD (chief, Pediatric Cardiology), Lisa Zhang, MD (pediatric resident), and Annie Wedel, MD (pediatric resident).

Juneteenth March (5K Run/Walk/Roll)

On June 19th, the department joined forces with Barnard and marched in the Juneteenth event in Central Park. All proceeds went to the Harlem Center, which supports community-based organizations from across New York's five boroughs.

Growing Our Reach

In an effort to expand the outreach of the POWER initiative, we collaborated with other programs at Columbia and continued to establish alliances with local partners in the community. Collaborators and projects in 2023 included:

• CUIMC Human Resources and Columbia Work Life: POWER co-created and hosted outdoor Yoga Fall Flow on Haven Plaza with Daniel Dobrin, MHA, patient experience specialist from the Department of Medicine.
• CUIMC’s Narrative Medicine StudioLab: Photographer Gail Albert Halaban hosted free and fun art showings for members of the department at the Edwynn Houk Gallery's “Chris Bucklow Exhibit” and at the Museum of the City of New York's “Celebrating the City” show.