Commensality as community rebuilding: A qualitative study of physician shared meals in a hospital setting.

Abstract

Modern healthcare environments increasingly limit opportunities for physicians to build collegial relationships, contributing to feelings of isolation and disconnection. Commensality has been proposed as a way to restore relational infrastructure within clinical settings. While prior commensality programs have shown modest quantitative effects on burnout, less is known about how physicians experience these gatherings and the cultural functions they serve. To explore how physicians participating in a hospital-based commensality program perceived its impact on community, connection, and culture. We conducted a qualitative study of two cohorts of attending physicians participating in a 12-month hospital-based commensality program. Open-ended survey responses were analyzed using inductive thematic coding followed by an interpretive cultural analysis to situate emergent themes within broader frameworks of medical culture. Fifty-six physicians participated across two program years. Six themes reflected patterns of connection and constraint: creating community; shared experiences as support; learning new perspectives; bridging professional boundaries; professional growth and mentorship; and structural barriers to connection. Average attendance was 75.5% in 2023-2024 and 59.7% in 2024-2025. Physicians described commensality as restorative and humanizing while noting time pressure and workload as key barriers. Physician commensality facilitated meaningful connection, cross-departmental relationships, and informal mentorship within the clinical workplace. These findings suggest that shared meals can support relational aspects of professional life that traditional institutional structures may erode.