Wellness

Every medical student at WashU Med is assigned to one of three Academic Societies (Cori, Erlanger-Graham, and Lowry-Moore). As a Lowry-Moore Society Lead, I’ve loved planning a variety of events for wellness, including large socials (Dim Sum Social, with 120+ people) and small dinners (Faculty Dinners, with ~10 people). As a whole, the Society Leads host fun and welcoming events to promote student wellness, belonging, and connection to faculty and upperclassmen.

Coaching groups meet every few weeks and give you the chance to have conversations about medicine and life in general with a close-knit group of students and a faculty coach. Occasional one-on-one meetings with your coach also serve as a way to receive personal feedback regarding your clinical skills and curriculum progress. Coaching groups are also a great wellness resource with coaches and fellow classmates being willing to listen and offer advice on anything from good restaurants and workout spots to difficult life events. The coaches are wonderful and really care about holistically helping you grow as a person and as a clinician.

For me, wellness has always been this vague word that I have struggled to define. It sounds generic and cliche, but I have always been the most “well” when I am the most balanced.

I was an internal medicine resident between 2005–2008. At the time, I had just gotten married, moved to a new city, and was working 30-hour shifts and 80-hour work weeks. Somehow, I was also able to have two kids, play music consistently, and learn to cook halfway decently. Sacrifices were also made for sure — I lived paycheck to paycheck paying rent in Chicago and I went to the gym fewer than five times over the course of four years.

During these years, I also watched “Avatar: The Last Airbender” for the first time. For those familiar with the show, my favorite characters are Toph, Iroh, and Sokka, in that order. The concept of balance is an ever-present theme in the show, and I had to create this balance in my personal life as well. During some of those 30-hour shifts, I felt just like Aang did when he tried to learn earth-bending — literally banging his hands painfully into rocks. And just like Aang having to find his balance, I had to make time for my family and for myself to bring my wellness back into balance. I guess my cheesy way of saying it is that “wellness” for me is like being in the Avatar state and is where I want to be if I choose!

To me, gratitude in medical school means practicing thankfulness toward ourselves, toward our loved ones and supporters, and toward this profession and everyone we have the privilege of meeting within it. To practice gratitude toward myself, I like to schedule a daily 30-minute block into my calendar to do something I love — from playing violin to FaceTiming my family and keeping up with their lives. I also try to journal two to three sentences every night in which I reflect on the things I appreciated and took away most from that day. Practicing gratitude toward this profession has also been essential toward my wellness as a medical student. Beyond expressing thanks to the incredible physician advisors and teachers, residents and medical student mentors, and my peers here at WashU Med, what motivates me day in and day out along this journey is being thankful for the patients and the health care teams whom I have the honor to interact with: people who help me learn how to be a more compassionate future physician, care and respect me, and teach me more about how I want to contribute to medicine moving forward.

Medical school is universally recognized as a demanding journey. If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably come across numerous TikToks and videos reinforcing that fact, as well as some tips to cut through it in the most efficient way possible. However, what I felt these videos rarely emphasized is that despite the challenges, expressing gratitude during this period can be the line between sinking and thriving. Will there be lectures where you feel lost? Absolutely. Will there be times when the number of Anki cards feels overwhelming? Most likely. Yet, amidst the struggles, it’s vital to occasionally reflect on the privilege of learning from top experts, surrounded by some of the most cutting-edge technology that the field of medicine offers. This is the moment you’ve worked so hard for — you’ve made it! Therefore, attending that series of mandatory 8 a.m. lectures or participating in those late afternoon discussions is not a requirement to fulfill; instead, it’s an opportunity you are privileged to have — a chance to explore further all those topics you dream of. Life doesn’t begin after reaching residency or achieving any type of milestone after that; you are living it now. Take every opportunity to appreciate the journey, smell the roses, and acknowledge the blessings along the way.

While I knew even before I was accepted that studying at WashU Med would be a privilege and that I would be grateful for the opportunity, I’m only just now beginning to see the exact reasons as to why I should be grateful. While I could drone on about all the great things at WashU Med, I think the single most important element here is the culture. From each person in the administration who somehow knows a dozen ways to help you, to my fellow students who somehow all know more about everything than I do, every person is a source of knowledge and perspective. But more than that, every person is not only able and willing to help, but is intentionally active in doing so. From something as simple as giving you their personal phone number over their professional one to going above and beyond in finding resources to help answer your questions, the amazing people around me make it genuinely difficult for me to find reasons to not be grateful.

A big part of wellness includes physical fitness, and I can emphatically say that I’ve had a fantastic experience with the WashU Med gym (818 Fitness) at the Core. There is everything you would need in a gym: plenty of cardio machines, free weights up to 100 pounds, three squat racks, a deadlift platform, as well as a giant cable machine with associated cable exercises. It’s always clean and open for very reasonable hours (6 a.m. – 10 p.m.). The gym is also a mere three-minute walk from the Washington University Medical Campus, making it very easy to go before, between, or after class! The other nice part is that the gym is exclusively for WashU Med students, so it never gets terribly busy. I also really enjoy seeing all of my classmates and catching up with some older students whom I don’t see as often. Overall, the Core has contributed very positively to my physical and mental well-being by offering a great gym to keep me fit while interacting with my wonderful friends and classmates.

Life as a medical student with no income and considerable expenses can be stressful, especially when you have unexpected expenses and a small budget. Coming straight from undergrad, I wasn’t exactly sure how my expenses in St. Louis would stack up. However, I’ve always been a budgeter, and I’ve found that having a budget and an app to track my expenses has helped me feel in control of my finances. I’ve found that it’s helpful to leave a little room in my budget for unexpected expenses like professional memberships, and for small, fun items like birthday gifts for a friend or the occasional sit-down meal. I’ve always been a bargain shopper, so I clip coupons on the Schnucks app or head to Aldi to get groceries. I’ve also taken advantage of auto-pay options for rent and utilities, which means I have one less thing to cross off my to-do list. The Office of Student Financial Planning, in addition to facilitating financial aid, is a great resource for financial planning and wellness, and even provides one-on-one appointments to help students create a budget.

Based on my experience, Dr. Karen Winters and WashU Med’s Student Health Services are the best student health service in the country. According to my peers and many students in the years above me, this is not a hot take — it’s a fact. The health plan is comprehensive (dental, no-cost imaging, self-scheduling for various specialties, highly accessible mental health consulting, etc.), and a physician appointment is just one phone call away. Personally, I’ve been thoroughly impressed by the turnaround time (<20 hours for comprehensive blood chemistry) and by the procedural skills of everyone in the office (by far the most painless procedures of my life). Health, both physical and mental, is so important in making sure that you are able to perform your best on this journey, and WashU Med’s Student Health Services is simply unparalleled among all health institutions that I’ve visited in my life (and I grew up a train ride away from Massachusetts General Hospital).

-Justin C., M1

WashU Med Student Health Services (SHS) provides students enrolled at WashU Med efficient, accessible, high-quality medical care in order to prevent and treat health concerns that may interfere with a student’s education and professional goals while attending WashU Med. SHS is a primary resource for medical and mental health services. The comprehensive array of services ranges from acute to chronic care, gynecological services, sexual health counseling and testing, travel advice, immunizations update, allergy shots, lab testing, etc. There is also a formulary for dispensing prescribed medication. We look forward to addressing all of your primary care health concerns and needs.

-Dr. Karen Winters, Student Health Services

To me, wellness means recognizing that there are some things worth prioritizing over work or studying. The summer before classes started, I wrote down a list of my non-negotiables, things that I would prioritize over work. I wrote down things that felt essential to who I am or what I need to feel my best (things like getting at least seven hours of sleep per night, being a part of a faith community, and making some time for cooking, hanging out with friends, and being creative). I made a promise to myself that no matter how much work I had to do, these things came first. They are not things that make me a better medical student or make me more productive, but they simply add a little more fun into my day and allow me to recenter on who I am outside of medicine.

Balancing your academic and personal life can be challenging, but it’s achievable at WashU Med because of the amenities available to us both on and off campus. Every day after classes, I run my usual one to two miles on the treadmills at the Core Gym (818 Fitness), which I highly recommend. On the weekends, you’ll find me playing tennis with my peers at either Shaw Park or Hudlin Park near Barnes-Jewish Hospital. And occasionally, I play the piano in the Farrell Learning and Teaching Center, trying to relearn and reminisce upon classical pieces that I performed at recitals many years ago. Through my habitual use of WashU Med’s amenities, I have been able to maintain my physical and mental well-being.