Practicing What They Preach: Do Medical Specialty and Subspecialty Conferences Incorporate Physician Wellness Into Their Programs?

Background: Depending upon their organization and content, medical conferences can enhance wellness or create additional stress for physician attendees. The objective of our study was to examine the degree to which major medical specialty and subspecialty conferences incorporate wellness into their meeting programs.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study of major medical conferences occurring in 2023 representing specialties and subspecialties with the greatest number of active physicians. Meeting programs and agendas were reviewed for conference timing including if scheduled on a weekend and/or United States Federal or major religious holiday, availability of childcare, and wellness-themed activities and sessions. Sessions were categorized across seven wellness domains, including emotional, environmental, financial, occupational, physical, social, and spiritual.

Results: Programing was available for 39 of the 41 conferences. The median conference length was five days. Approximately 97% (38/39) of conferences were held over all or part of a weekend and 21% (8/39) were scheduled over a Federal or religious holiday. Only one in 10 meetings advertised childcare. Fifty-four percent of conferences included a wellness activity such as a fun run, yoga, meditation, or city tour. The majority of agendas included sessions across multiple wellness domains, most commonly social (n=427), occupational (n=356), and emotional (n=140).

Conclusion:  Most major medical specialty and subspecialty conferences incorporate wellness-themed activities and sessions into their agendas; however, opportunities exist to improve the availability of childcare, optimize scheduling, and offer more expansive programing across wellness domains.