Daniel Saddawi‑Konefka MD, MBA

Anesthesiologist and intensivist at Massachusetts General Hospital. Medical education and clinician well-being.

Selected publications

A selection, most recent first. The complete record is on PubMed and ORCID.

  1. Saddawi‑Konefka D. It Shouldn't Be Brave. JAMA. In press.
  2. Burns C*, Saddawi‑Konefka D*, Was A, West C. Beyond Burnout: Unpacking the Terms of Healthcare Worker Distress. Acad Med. In press. (*co-first authors) Distinguishes burnout, moral injury, depression, and the other terms of healthcare worker distress so that support can match the actual problem.
  3. Nizamuddin J, Baker K, Ambardekar A, Saddawi‑Konefka D. Expertise by Design: Why Modern Training Requires Deliberate Cultivation. Anesth Analg. In press. Argues that modern anesthesiology training must deliberately cultivate expertise rather than assume experience will deliver it.
  4. Tung MG, Palamara K, Ripp JA, Saddawi‑Konefka D. Meaning and Comfort in Physician Well-Being: An Integrated Framework. JAMA. 2026. doi An integrated framework for physician well-being built around both meaning and comfort in work.
  5. Higgins KE, Mansolf M, Duggan EW, Wingert T, Vinson AE, Sinskey JL, Margolis R, Correll LR, Pappas H, Swisher JL, Rothschild L, Saddawi‑Konefka D, Carey T, Was A, Durand MJ, Budd A, Hernandez Carcamo J, Park C. A Multi-Department Investigation of Occupational Well-Being, Systemic Features, and Organizational Outcomes in Anesthesiology Using the Well-Being Influencers Survey for Healthcare (WISH). Anesthesiology. 2026. PubMed A multi-department study connecting anesthesiologists' occupational well-being with systemic features of their workplaces and organizational outcomes.
  6. Saddawi‑Konefka D, Baker KH. Calibrating Critical Feedback: The Three Zones of Learner Response. Anesthesiology Open. 2026. doi Describes three zones of learner response to help educators calibrate how they deliver critical feedback.
  7. Saddawi‑Konefka D, Moutier CY, Ehrenfeld JM. Reducing Barriers to Mental Health Care for Physicians: An Overview and Strategic Recommendations. JAMA. 2025. PubMed An overview of the barriers keeping physicians from mental health care, with strategic recommendations for dismantling them.
  8. Burns CJ, Marzoughi M, Sinko L, Saddawi‑Konefka D, Stratton K, Sigakis M, Wixson M, Simmons S, Ramirez M, Kheterpal S, Was A. "The pain and suffering are just too great for me to manage": A qualitative study of emotional distress among anesthesiologists after challenging clinical events. Anesthesiology. 2025. PubMed A qualitative study of the emotional distress anesthesiologists carry after challenging clinical events.
  9. Matern LH, Baker K, Saddawi‑Konefka D. "Consider-the-Opposite" Debiasing to Improve Self-Assessment Accuracy in Anesthesiology Trainees: A Prospective Pretest-Posttest Study. A A Pract. 2025. PubMed Shows that a brief consider-the-opposite exercise improved the accuracy of trainees' self-assessment.
  10. Douglas RN, Sharpe EE, Kraus M, Saddawi‑Konefka D, Hanson AC, Pulos B. Mental Health Questions on State Medical License Applications and Evaluation of Updates. JAMA Netw Open. 2023. PubMed Re-examines state licensing applications and evaluates how mental health questions changed after the 2021 JAMA paper.
  11. Saddawi‑Konefka D, Sullivan A, Beltran C, Baker K. Doing More With Written Feedback: Improving Learner Satisfaction and Reflection With the LEAF (Learner-Engaged Analysis of Feedback) Method. Acad Med. 2021. PubMed Introduces the LEAF method, a structured way for learners to analyze written feedback that improved satisfaction and reflection. More at leafmethod.org.
  12. Saddawi‑Konefka D, Brown A, Eisenhart I, Hicks K, Barrett E, Gold JA. Consistency Between State Medical License Applications and Recommendations Regarding Physician Mental Health. JAMA. 2021. PubMed Shows that most state medical license applications asked about mental health in ways inconsistent with national recommendations. This work has supported licensing reform in multiple states.
  13. Wolpaw J, Saddawi‑Konefka D, Dwivedi P, Toy S. Faculty Underestimate Resident Desire for Constructive Feedback and Overestimate Retaliation. J Educ Perioper Med. 2019. PubMed Finds that faculty underestimate how much residents want constructive feedback and overestimate the risk of retaliation for giving it.
  14. Saddawi‑Konefka D, Baker K, Guarino A, Burns SM, Oettingen G, Gollwitzer PM, Charnin JE. Changing Resident Physician Studying Behaviors: A Randomized, Comparative Effectiveness Trial of Goal Setting Versus Use of WOOP. J Grad Med Educ. 2017. PubMed A randomized trial in which WOOP (mental contrasting with implementation intentions) increased residents' follow-through on studying goals compared with conventional goal setting.
  15. Saddawi‑Konefka D, Schumacher DJ, Baker KH, Charnin JE, Gollwitzer PM. Changing Physician Behavior With Implementation Intentions: Closing the Gap Between Intentions and Actions. Acad Med. 2016. PubMed Explains how implementation intentions can close the gap between what physicians intend to do and what they actually do.