Health & Occupational Wellness (HOW) Program

Empowering O&G professionals to develop and implement a tailored wellbeing program in their workplace.

About the HOW Program

The core purpose of the HOW Program is to empower and guide O&G professionals to develop and implement a tailored wellbeing program at their workplace. The program teaches participants to identify challenges, create solutions, and drive meaningful improvements in doctors’ health and workplace culture.

Developed in partnership with Dr Madeleine Ward, Dr Rebecca McDonald, and Dr James Aridas, this program is based on the Leading Kindness COVID-19 Toolkit (LKC19T). The initiative was recognised with the 2021 RANZCOG Group Wellbeing Award for its impact on healthcare wellbeing.

With their expertise and the support of the RANZCOG HOW Program Project Group, this program has been designed to be inclusive, evidence-based, and relevant to healthcare professionals today.

Key objectives of the program

Improve occupational wellbeing in O&G departments
Improve wellbeing in regional and rural medical training settings
Improve understanding of and provide support for the wellbeing challenges Indigenous trainees and members face at work

Watch how the HOW Program is helping healthcare teams create healthier, more connected workplaces.

Read video transcript

We know from research that healthy doctors that have lower stress levels are able to provide better outcomes for their patients.

Many of us working in O&G know that it’s a fantastic occupation, but it also does come with its challenges. Obstetrics and gynaecology is a 24-hour service.

We have to do night shifts and weekends, and often have to make decisions that need to be made really quickly and have consequences as well. So it is an occupation that does come with some stresses and some other factors that we need to look into.

We often work more than 40 hours a week, and then you double down and you have families, you have examinations, you have research projects, and deadlines to meet, and you can get lost in the amount of work that you need to do and often forget about yourself in the process.

So building on some stuff that came out of the COVID project by three of our fellows, the HOW Project was invented.

This is where we look at the wellness and ways that we can improve the workplace. Its aim is to be able to give the skills and the resources to people on the ground to make differences. We know that every hospital, every service, is slightly different, and we can’t just have one solution that fixes everything.

So we’re going to give people the tools and the evidence to be able to change those workplaces. I was the wellbeing coordinator for the last three years at this surgery hospital. But one of the things that was missing was making sure that the trainees found a platform to talk about their concerns.

So when the RANZCOG released the Health and Occupational Wellbeing pilot study, myself and the head of department jumped on board, learning ways to incorporate into not only our everyday practice, but also into our monthly wellbeing sessions that we ran.

These were very informal, in an informal setting, usually on a Friday afternoon when all the clinical work was completed. We often got snacks and some drinks to hang around with each other and really talk about some of the nuances of our job and how we thought as a team we can collaborate and fix some of these wellbeing issues.

We have also created some regular every quarter sessions, where we hire a counsellor to do some art therapy sessions with us, and also some yoga sessions and really just let out some steam, do very non-clinical work, some team bonding, which I think is a very important part of wellbeing and allows us to basically continue with this O&G career.

We’re all busy, but if we don’t take a moment to do the things that matter, we will never be able to stop and appreciate the true value of O&G. If I was to describe the Health and Occupational Wellbeing in one sentence, I would say it is evidence-based medicine in order to promote longevity in O&G and mental wellbeing of our trainees. So with the pilot coming to a near end, we’re now looking for the next stage.

If you or your hospital would like to be involved, please go to the RANZCOG website and sign up to become involved in this very important project.

Why health and occupational wellness is crucial in healthcare

In comparison to other professionals, doctors are ten-times more likely to suffer from psychological distress, with doctors under the age of thirty being the most at risk (Chanchlani, 2018; Forbes, 2020)

%

Of doctors in training are at risk of burnout

%

Of doctors are at risk of emotional exhaustion

%

Of nurses and midwives ‘work too much in a day’

2025 pilot phase

To ensure that the HOW Program is informative, useful, and works in providing practical tools and resources to help our trainees and members implement a wellbeing program within their workplaces, RANZCOG has received government funding to pilot the program in selected sites across the country.

The pilot phase of the program will end in December 2026. A new phase offering support for more hospitals to take part will commence from March 2027.

What does the program entail?

The Program is led by “Wellbeing Advocates” from O&G units. Advocates may either self-nominate or be nominated by their unit head. Once accepted into the Program, they receive training and ongoing support from RANZCOG to design and deliver a wellbeing initiative tailored to their workplace.

The program follows a structured Quality Improvement (QI) approach. It includes five self-guided eLearning modules, each supported by a workbook. Together, these resources guide advocates through key concepts, reflective activities and actions that can be applied directly within their workplace.

Throughout the program, advocates will also have opportunities to connect and network with like-minded colleagues from across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand who are committed to improving doctors’ health and wellbeing.

Advocates are expected to:

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Complete all five eLearning modules, whilst building and implementing a wellbeing program within their unit

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Work through the accompanying workbook activities

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Apply learnings within their workplace or pilot site before progressing to the next module

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Track progress using practical checklists and action plans

What will you achieve?

By the end of the HOW Program, advocates will be able to:

Explain the importance of wellbeing in medical training and workplace culture.
Develop a practical wellbeing initiative tailored to their local context, reflecting on the unique needs of their team members.
Build a strong relationship with leadership for sustainable change.
Identify workplace challenges and opportunities using an evidence-based approach.
Develop and implement a practical action plan that contributes to better staff experience and a healthier workplace for everyone.
Respond to wellbeing challenges proactively rather than reactively.
Create tangible change within their unit through improved workplace culture and team morale.
Measure and evaluate the impact of the wellbeing initiatives.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

The HOW Program is a structured Quality Improvement initiative, with core activities mapped to CPD requirements.

Participation in the program enables advocates to claim CPD hours across all three domains.

As advocates progress through the program and implement their wellbeing initiative, they will generate activities and evidence that can contribute to CPD requirements.