The United States has a new surgeon general and he has set the bold goal of making the U.S. one of the healthiest and happiest nations in the world. In fact, he believes, as do I, that the two are inextricably linked.

If you have a chance please watch a short video on his prescription for happiness.

As the video points out there are some very simple things we can all do to live a happier and healthier life.

Below is a prescription for happiness that will benefit both you and your patients and will only take five minutes out of your day:

1) Make sure your first and last interaction of the day with another person is positive.  For example make sure your first and last emails of the day are thank you notes – :30 seconds each.

2) Write down three things you are grateful for every day – members of your family, pets, coworkers, church, etc. This should take less than a minute.

3) Three times a day meditate for one minute. You can use an app like Insight Timer to assist you or just practice the mindfulness of breathing – listen to this audio session – for 10 deep breaths,

In collaboration with our Accountable Care Organization (ACO), our world-class Center for Mindfulness has created some great resources for our caregivers and patients to help learn these powerful techniques. Click here for a complete list of our ACO mindfulness resources.

You can also check out this brochure for details on upcoming learning and practice opportunities.

Survey deadline approaching

I wanted to offer a quick reminder to all of our physicians to remember to take the 2015 Physician Opinion Survey. We want to learn what it’s like to practice here and how we can improve your experience as a UMass Memorial caregiver. We have listened to what you have said in previous surveys. Based on your feedback, we have made many improvements including providing a structure and opportunity for you as physicians to participate in decision making related to our EMR solution with Epic, the creation of our physician leadership development program, revamping our new physician orientation and organizing physician-oriented events that focus on topics that matter to you.

We estimate the survey will take no longer than 20 minutes to complete. It ends on December 23. Please express your opinions frankly, and be assured your responses are confidential.

You will have to refer to your email invitation from Press Ganey for your password in order to take the survey.

Thanks for all your great ideas and for taking great care of our patients and one another,

Eric