The Dean's reflection: June

This month’s reflection places trainee wellbeing firmly under the spotlight. As an education academic researcher, this is a subject close to my heart. Previously, working with teams in university settings, we have wrestled with the limits of resilience as an isolated construct; published a Medical School position statement on wellbeing and more recently have explored alternatives to 'psychological debriefing' as an approach to manage vicarious trauma.

Led by Dr Justin Wong, a RANZCP trainee based in Brisbane, we have evaluated alternate systems level approaches such as Schwartz rounds.

However, despite these improved understandings and the commitment of many others internationally in the field, are we any closer to translating these findings to produce a healthier workforce? Tackling wellbeing challenges is central to the National Medical Workforce Strategy and training design is recognised as a key systems lever.

Unfortunately, against the backdrop of increasingly stretched workplaces, high rates of burnout persist driven by system barriers. Socio-culturally a false dichotomy has been described between competence and wellbeing. That’s to say we work in a medical culture that privileges self-sacrifice and grit as markers of competence.

In this context, what are we doing at the College? Already we have a position statement (PS 48) on the Safety and wellbeing of psychiatrists and those in psychiatry training, published in 2023 by the Member Wellbeing Subcommittee. A further approach we are taking is to build bridges in supporting wellbeing across membership and education.

In the spirit of collaboration, we intend to host an R U OK? Day webinar led by Dr Susannah Bond in September, focused on the responsibility we hold as psychiatrists in leading the way for the medical profession to promote healthy workplace practices. In addition, I have been meeting with peers across other medical colleges to develop a consensus statement to support our trainees and share effective approaches at registrar level.

With limited evidence to guide practices within the psychiatry profession, there has also been recent work led by Professor Stephen Billett and a team from Griffith University, that explores systems barriers to wellbeing amongst trainees in Queensland and beyond. In conjunction with Metro North, the team have been conducting a comprehensive qualitative study that is already shedding light on pragmatic ways forward.

For example, the initial literature review has found six areas to focus on to strengthen supports in clinical settings:

1. ensuring effective and regular clinical supervision
2. strengthening trainee connections within the profession and broader community
3. promoting workplace flexibility and autonomy
4. sharing organisational support systems
5. leadership that models wellbeing
6. safeguarding time for teaching and learning.

These findings are illuminating and were presented at the recent RANZCP 2026 Congress. Further approaches will emerge as the research team follow up the qualitative findings with an Australia wide survey to generate system-wide insights and inform practical solutions.

Beyond research and within our College governance systems, there is more that is necessary. This includes capturing real-time data to monitor wellbeing and developing more precise, targeted metrics and dashboards to drive good practice across jurisdictions. Discussions between the DOTs and our Education Department are underway to explore how to measure and improve trainee experience. 

Moving on to recent Dean activities, I would like to thank colleagues in NSW, particularly trainees, who attended the ‘Meet the Dean’ session at the NSW Branch office late May. While we heard stories and discussed a range of issues, a consistent theme emerged: the importance of designing wellbeing into our education processes and not treating it as an add-on.

I am grateful to Branch Chair Dr Ian Korbel and his team for hosting the session. Given the success and to build further connections, I intend to continue these visits across all Branches and territories, with the aim of concluding this engagement by RANZCP 2027 Congress.

I close this month’s reflection by encouraging you to reflect on the ‘systems six’ above and consider how you can support these, yourselves and colleagues within your own workplace. Please remember we have our own support and wellbeing resources and options in our College Help Centre to access or refer someone to. Through this collective effort, we can build a healthier and more sustainable training environment for our trainees and our profession.

Warm regards,

Professor Andy Teodorczuk

Executive Dean of Education