Fostering faculty well-being through personal, community, and cultural formation at an academic medical center: Indiana university school of medicine as a case study

Abstract

Indiana University School of Medicine is the site of a unique initiative impacting faculty well-being through a comprehensive cultural change effort. The initiative was based on applying relationship-centered care not only to doctors and patients, but also to all members of the academic community across missions. Early cultural change efforts focused on changing the formal curriculum and creating a broadly distributed, written document on the organization's guiding professional values. These initial cultural change efforts were foundational for a more comprehensive movement emphasizing formation as described in this chapter. Over several years, a wide variety of programs and professional development opportunities emphasizing personal formation (knowing self), community formation (finding community), and cultural formation (creating value) were offered. The insights, perceived impact, and observed outcomes are reported through the personal stories of Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) community members. © 2009 Humana Press.