Duval County Medical Society

Grant Details

Organization Type Medical Society Foundation Categories Physician Wellbeing
Grant Size $150,000 Year 2023 State Florida

Duval County Medical Society LifeBridge Navy Medical Corps Expansion

The Duval County Medical Society (DCMS) Foundation is a 501(c)(3) created in 1959. Its mission is to support charitable, scientific, and educational activities, in partnership with physicians, that benefit the community’s health. Practicing medicine can be highly stressful and doctors face day-to-day challenges with emotional stress and burnout. This can impact one’s personal, practice or family life. The LifeBridge: Physician Wellness Program is designed to address the seriousness of physician burnout in the field and reduce the impact of physician related stressors.

The DCMS and DCMS Foundation provide LifeBridge, a resource that is voluntary and confidential. Once a request for an appointment through a private 24/7 appointment line is made, a counselor will reach out to schedule an appointment within 24 hours. Immediate connection to a counselor is also available, if requested by the physician. Six free sessions are available to all physicians in Duval County per calendar year. Physicians enrolled in the LifeBridge program have access to numerous confidential resources from licensed mental health counselors to life coaches. The program embraces numerous diagnostic and therapeutic modalities including CBT, hypnosis, meditation, mindfulness, trauma resolution, psychological first aid, motivational interviewing, positive psychology, and cross-functional collaboration. Coaching has re-energized physicians so they can reconnect with their passion for medicine.

The DCMS Foundation aspires to expand the current DCMS Lifebridge program to Navy Medical Corps officers throughout the world. Scaling the DCMS LifeBridge to include this group of physicians, will grant them access to confidential resources currently not available in the military mental health system. The Navy Medical Corps especially like the confidentiality of this program over the offerings at the Medical Treatment Facilities (MTF) which are reportable up the chain of command when necessary. The program currently has five contracted counselors, but DCMS has been in contact with other counselors that can be added to the program, as needed. This will guarantee that even with program expansion, there will never be a delay in scheduling timely appointments. Physician Wellness is a priority for the DCMSF. This focus improves the quality of care delivered to patients, increases patient satisfaction, and decreases medical errors- a noble cause for any medical organization.