Skip to main content
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
MD Education

Personal Awareness & Self-Care

Our graduates will demonstrate the capacity to self-reflect on their acculturation to medicine, to assess the impact of their medical school experiences on their evolving personal and professional values and to tend to their own physical and mental health.

Expand the entries below to learn more about benchmarks in these competencies.

 PASC - 1

Describes awareness of personal values, implicit biases, and changes in perspective during the progression through medical school and identifies strategies that can mitigate the effects of biases in the professional setting.

  • Does Not Meet: Does not describe his/her personal values and/or implicit biases. Exhibits lack of awareness of the impact of personal beliefs on the practice of medicine and/or ways to mitigate biases in the professional setting.
  • Phase 1 Benchmark: Begins to describe awareness of personal values & implicit biases including their potential adverse professional impact.
  • Phase 2 Benchmark: Describes personal values & biases and considers their impact within the professional setting. Reflects on changes in perspective which accompany the progression through medical school. Begins to identify opportunities to mitigate biases within the professional setting upon reflection.
  • Phase 3 Benchmark: Describes personal values & biases and considers their impact within the professional setting. Reflects on changes in perspective which accompany the progression through medical school. Describes application of this insight to complex or challenging situations. Able to recognize own biases or assumptions in the moment.
  • Aspirational Behavior: Models how to reflect on one’s values, biases, and progression through training to recognize assumptions in the moment and identify actions that will address the effects of biases in the moment.

 PASC - 2

Describes the importance of taking steps to optimize one’s own physical and mental health. Identify strategies to prevent and address burnout at both individual and systems levels.

  • Does Not Meet: Does not describe own preventive or ongoing health needs, whether physical or mental.
  • Phase 1 Benchmark: Describes physical and mental health needs, strategies to maintain balance, available services, and seeks assistance when needed. Discusses ongoing efforts to maintain physical and mental health during meetings with mentor.
  • Phase 2 Benchmark: Describes physical and mental health needs and strategies to maintain balance in demanding situations, including advanced coping mechanisms and seeking appropriate assistance, when needed. Describes awareness that symptoms of burnout vary by individual. Discusses ongoing efforts to maintain physical and mental health during meetings with mentor.
  • Phase 3 Benchmark: Describes physical and mental health needs and strategies to maintain balance in demanding situations, including advanced coping mechanisms and seeking appropriate assistance, when needed. Describes awareness that symptoms of burnout vary by individual and attempts to identify those symptoms if one has experienced burnout. Discusses ongoing efforts to maintain physical and mental health during meetings with mentor.
  • Aspirational Behavior: Maintains balance in demanding situations and is able to identify colleagues at risk of burnout and assist them with risk reduction and seeking appropriate assistance. Shares an openness to discussing and addressing challenges to physical and mental health.

 PASC - 3

Create a thoughtful and deliberate plan for identifying areas of medicine that fit personal goals and abilities through full participation in professional development activities, such as writing a personal statement, developing a curriculum vitae, and seeking assistance from advisors. 

  • Does Not Meet: Does not participate in required professional development activities.
  • Phase 1 Benchmark: Participates in required professional development activities.
  • Phase 2 Benchmark: Participates in required professional development activities and describes areas of medicine which fit his/her goals and abilities.
  • Phase 3 Benchmark: Identifies a specialty choice in an area of medicine which fits his/her goals and abilities, participates fully in required professional development activities, such as writing a personal statement, developing a curriculum vitae, and seeking assistance from advisors. 
  • Aspirational Behavior: Identifies a specialty choice in an area of medicine which fits his/her goals and abilities and has completed required professional development activities.