Why Wellbeing?

Graduate work is a time of growth and learning. As with any endeavor, there are challenges and struggles and opportunities for personal and professional development. The HSC seeks to prepare students to be future professionals, equipped with the skills needed to succeed and thrive in school and in their future careers.

The Quality Enhancement Plan is a five-year project focused on enhancing the learning environment creating a culture of health and wellbeing. HSC’s Quality Enhancement Plan was developed in response to campus-wide symptoms of the national problem of professional burnout in healthcare providers.  The overall goal is to create a culture that supports student wellbeing through a positive educational environment.  Our intent is to teach students the concepts and skills that will enhance their wellbeing and consequently prepare them to successfully manage the challenges of their future work environment.

Many of our graduates will enter the workforce where burnout and low wellbeing are common. In order to best prepare our students for success both in their educational programs and in their careers, the UNTHSC identifies wellbeing, emotional intelligence and resilience as critical tools. We seek to provide knowledge and skills that will allow our students to be healthy, emotionally intelligent and resilient future professionals.

Quality Enhancement Plan

Our “wellbeing program” is a part of a standard regional re-accreditation process by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS-COC). As a part of this process, HSC is required to develop a Quality Enhancement Plan–called the QEP–that occurs over five successive years. Components of this re-accreditation process require schools in the region to improve student learning or student success outcomes, integrating stakeholders across the institution in the process.

The topic of wellbeing was selected using input from multiple sources, including a university-wide survey followed by focus groups and discussions with HSC leadership. A planning committee, with diverse representation from across campus, explored wellbeing models and programs from similar institutions. Expert opinions were sought from individuals experienced in the science, scholarship and practice of wellbeing. The committee developed three student outcomes that describe the expectations for our future graduates and the characteristics for success.