From surviving to thriving: career, leadership and wellbeing 

In modern healthcare, change is occurring at an accelerated rate. Systemic and cultural pressures are forcing healthcare practitioners to adapt at the cost of their health and wellbeing. Financial recession and COVID both highlighted vital factors that underpin the human capacity to find balance during systemic change. These events demanded that healthcare reflect on what is truly important, questioning what it might take to survive but also to conceive what it might take to thrive.  

Physician burnout and job satisfaction have become critical issues as staff are experiencing a loss of control, flexibility, and autonomy under the pressures of rapid change. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses show that occupational burnout in physicians also affects quality of care and patient safety. (1) Burnout is highly prevalent among physicians, including anaesthetists, and although much is discussed about improving resilience, patient safety experts recognise that organisational and individual strategies must go beyond resilience alone to retain staff and maintain standards of safety. (2)  

In the symposium session “From surviving to thriving: career, leadership and wellbeing”, the speakers will discuss career strategies that support trainees in developing leadership skills without compromising their well-being. The session will challenge common myths and present evidence-based approaches to gender disparities, mentorship, and support structures. They will also offer practical tools to maintain resilience, prevent burnout, and build fulfilling, sustainable careers. 

Modern leaders must balance institutional demands and maintain a human-centred approach to management. The ESAIC Leadership Programme aims to prepare leaders to act with confidence, credibility, and lasting impact. (3) Prof. Daniela Ionescu will present “Leadership pathways in anaesthesia: skills, challenges, and opportunities”. Prof. Ionescu is a mentor in this 6-month programme. As Chair of the Association for Research in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care in Cluj-Napoca and Chair of the Onco-Anaesthesia Group at ESAIC since 2023, she has extensive leadership experience. She has been a member of the Board of the Romanian Society of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care since 2002. She has also served as Chair of General Anaesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, part of the ESAIC Scientific Committee. (4) 

Dr Anne Marie Camilleri Podesta will present “Work-life balance and resilience: strategies for long-term success”. Her lecture will explore how sustainable careers in anaesthesia depend not only on individual resilience but also on leadership culture, mentorship, sponsorship, organisational responsibility and workforce wellbeing. Drawing on evidence from wellbeing and patient safety research, she will discuss how fatigue, burnout, and poor work–life balance reflect broader systemic pressures within healthcare. She will also reflect on leadership, women in anaesthesia, and the importance of remaining open to opportunity and professional growth throughout one’s career. Dr Camilleri Podesta is a Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care at Mater Dei Hospital, Malta, President of the Association of Anaesthesiologists and Intensivists of Malta (AAIM), Chair of the ESAIC National Anaesthesiologists Societies Committee (NASC), and a Board Member of ESAIC. (5) 

Passing the final exam and becoming a consultant brings a new set of challenges for former trainees. Many leadership skills that are crucial for both day-to-day work and long-term professional growth are not in the training curriculum. Dr Dora Karmelić, an anaesthesiologist and intensivist at University Hospital Centre Zagreb, will explore this topic in her presentation, “From Trainee to Consultant: Leadership Skills for Early-Career Anaesthetists.” Dr Karmelić represented Croatia on the ESAIC Trainee Committee, where she served as the trainee representative to the Patient Safety and Quality Committee. She is now a full member. (6) She is also faculty on the Advanced Patient Safety Course, teaching patient safety tools for use in acute care settings. Drawing on her experience, she will offer personal insights into this vulnerable career stage, when individual clinical responsibility increases sharply, but formal support may be limited. She will discuss the “soft” skills that are formally taught during training, as well as those often gained informally along the way, including communication, delegation, navigating hierarchies, mentoring, and engagement with expert societies. 

In recent years, it has become more obvious that to survive and thrive in the complicated field of medicine, as in any other domain, technical knowledge alone is not enough. In her presentation “Emotional intelligence: managing stress, conflict and team dynamics”, Dr. Iulia Crisan, from University Hospital Zurich, will talk about how improving non-technical skills is beneficial not only for the patients but also for medical staff. She will discuss how training in emotional intelligence (EI) helps staff manage their own feelings to reduce stress and improve resilience, heightens their capacity for avoiding or resolving conflicts, creates compassionate leaders, and improves team interpersonal dynamics and patient care. As a result, this training could support staff retention, reduce sick leave, and cut costs. (7)(8)(9) 

The symposium session “From surviving to thriving: career, leadership and wellbeing” will take place at the Euroanaesthesia Congress on Sunday, June 7 at 10:30–11:30 CEST at the ESAIC Expo. 

References 

1. Shanafelt TD, Dyrbye LN, Sinsky C, Trockel M, Tutty M, Wang H, Carlasare LE, West CP. Changes in Burnout and Satisfaction with Work-Life Integration Among U.S. Residents and Fellows and the General U.S. Working Population Between 2012 and 2023. Acad Med. 2025 Dec 1;100(12):1486-1498. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000006294. Epub 2025 Sep 18. PMID: 40971586; PMCID: PMC12871416. https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(24)00668-2/fulltext 

2. https://esaic.org/patient-safety-experts-meeting-ea23/  

3. https://esaic.org/professional-growth/european-leadership-programme/ 

4. https://sraticongres.ro/2024/index.php/speaker/ionescu-daniela/ 

5. https://esaic2026.abstractserver.com/program/#/details/persons/211 

6. https://esaic.org/update-from-the-new-trainee-committee/  

7. Dott C, Mamarelis G, Karam E, Bhan K, Akhtar K. Emotional Intelligence and Good Medical Practice: Is There a Relationship? Cureus. 2022 Mar 13;14(3):e23126. doi: 10.7759/cureus.23126. PMID: 35425685; PMCID: PMC9004693.  

8. Nightingale S, Spiby H, Sheen K, Slade P. The impact of emotional intelligence in health care professionals on caring behaviour towards patients in clinical and long-term care settings: Findings from an integrative review. Int J Nurs Stud. 2018 Apr;80:106-117. doi: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2018.01.006. Epub 2018 Jan 11. PMID: 29407344. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0020748918300166?via%3Dihub 

9. Baicker K, Cutler D, Song Z. Workplace wellness programs can generate savings. Health Aff (Millwood). 2010 Feb;29(2):304-11. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2009.0626. Epub 2010 Jan 14. PMID: 20075081. https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2009.0626?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub++0pubmed