Dear Colleagues,

Thank you to all who participated in the Comradery Project (and a special thanks to the thirty people who completed the pre- and post- survey, allowing us to do a little program evaluation)! The Comradery Project is an effort to encourage providers to socialize with one another and to discuss meaningful issues that impact providers. Each participating provider receives a small monthly subsidy to offset the cost of the group meal or activity. Comradery Project groups from all medical groups met monthly between February and July. There were 22 comradery groups with a total of 116 registered providers.

Unsurprisingly, connecting with colleagues in a relaxed setting did have a statistically significant positive impact on professional fulfillment levels of participants! Given these positive pilot results, Comradery Project will run again started in early 2019. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive and recommended we continue the project. Overall, people enjoyed the opportunity to bond with colleagues most. A few people shared that they would not have otherwise taken the time to do this, and felt it was very rewarding.

Read a selection of provider feedback about the project:

• “I was finally able to meet my colleagues in a non-work setting and see that they were going through many of the things I was.”
• “Being forced to take time off to talk to peers”
• “Having and excuse to get together and get closer to my colleagues and feel supported. I feel more connected to the team and care more about my work environment.”
• “I liked to hear how others have approached common work/life balance issues.”
• “Creates shared space to socialize and vent as well grow with exchange of ideas”
• “..as a new employee I found it really helpful to spend relaxing time with my colleagues which helps rejuvenate us after a long day. It allows us to relieve work stress and come up with improvements for our work environment.”

Start thinking about forming a 2019 Comradery group, perhaps a new group if you participated last year, and look for an invitation to sign up in December. The 2019 Comradery Project incorporates some of the opportunities to improve providers suggested. Full details will be included in the upcoming invitation.

Thank you all for being such wonderful colleagues!

Warmly,

Rachel Roberts, MD

Andrea Hausel, RD