Using poetry to elicit internal medicine residents' perspectives on wellness.

Poetry appears to be an innovative and effective vehicle to elicit residents' perspectives without compromising response rate. Poetry survey techniques allow medical trainees to provide powerful messaging to leadership. Most of what is known about trainee wellness is derived from quantitative surveys. This study showed medicine trainees' willingness to engage in poetry and add richness and personal detail to highlight key drivers of wellness. Such information provides context and brings attention in a compelling manner to an important topic.