Coaching as a professional development tool for improving the well-being and engagement of medical specialists: a scoping review

Aim To map the current evidence on coaching as a professional development tool to improve the well-being and engagement of medical specialists. Methods We conducted a scoping review of the international literature by searching Medline, Embase and Web of Science from database inception until 23 October 2025. Studies were included if the participants (coaching recipients) were working clinically as a specialist medical doctor, and the primary or secondary aim of the coaching was to improve the recipient’s well-being or work engagement. We also identified studies in which the coaching was used to improve technical and non-technical specialist competencies and where the coaching was linked to patient outcomes. Studies were excluded if they did not analyse primary data or if participants included doctors in training, other health professionals or hospital administrators. Results 33 studies met our inclusion criteria. Coaches included qualified coaches, peer coaches and self-identified coaches. Coaching for well-being alone was the focus in four studies, engagement alone in 13 studies and both well-being and engagement in 16 studies. Coaching that improved well-being and work engagement often did so by focusing on non-technical skills across multiple specialist competencies. Multiple studies linked improved clinician well-being and engagement with improved patient outcomes. Discussion Coaching is increasingly used across multiple specialties to improve clinicians’ well-being and workplace engagement. Efforts to improve well-being and workplace engagement rarely exist in isolation, with coaches addressing multiple aspects of clinical practice. The evidence base is limited by inconsistencies in the definition of coaching, the qualifications of coaches, the duration of coaching and the heterogeneity of study methods.