Wellness
At Cooper IM, we make wellness for residents a priority. This is evident not only in the variety of events we have for our residents both at work and outside of work, but more importantly ingrained in our schedule and in our culture. Our residency training is challenging and our residents take pride in hard work, but we also love to have fun! We have a robust wellness committee of creative and compassionate residents that plan events for our Cooper IM family. See below for some of the many ways our program prioritizes wellness and check out our resident run Instagram account, @CooperIM, for more photos.
- Scheduling- One of the most important pillars of wellness is having adequate time off! Our schedule design (4+2) guarantees residents have at least two full weekends off every four weeks, often more. This schedule is arranged in the traditional x+y residency format whereby “x” weeks represent inpatient time and “y” weeks represent dedicated ambulatory or elective. On the “x” weeks that involve essential service, residents almost always have either Saturday or Sunday off. On the “y” weeks, residents have the whole weekend off. When making the year’s schedule, residents have an opportunity to request certain weeks off for vacation that we try our best to accommodate.
- Wellness Committee & Budget - Our wellness committee started after the especially high demands of training during the COVID pandemic. Our wellness committee is now robust, very active and has an annual budget. Residents plan creative and diverse events that encourage quality time with each other and that explore the many avenues of wellness. These events include group workout class, trips to local events in Philadelphia or South Jersey, themed holiday meals, holiday party, cohort outings and noon conferences (discussed below).
- Wellness Noon Conferences - We have a robust curriculum for our noon lectures and sometimes those lectures involve wellness. This includes lectures on finance and managing money, sessions with counselors through Cooper’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP), pet therapy, locally catered lunches, baking competitions, cookie decorating, etc.