2019 Schedule
Sunday, September 8, 2019
Pre-Conference Activities
Please join us for some optional pre-conference activities:
Please join Harvard Medical School faculty members Pooja Rutberg, MD, and Liz Gaufberg, MD, MPH for an interactive workshop at the nearby Institute for Contemporary Art. Engage in collaborative meaning-making using works of art, and make connections to the world of healthcare and health professions education. If you wish to hone your skills of close looking and listening, cultivate empathy, find joy and renewal in your work, and build relationships with other Schwartz Center members, then this experience is for you! No prior experience with art needed!
Speaker:
Liz Gaufberg, MD, MPH
Director, Center for Professional and Academic Development, Cambridge Health Alliance
Associate Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Speaker:
Pooja Rutberg, MD
Pediatrician, Cambridge Health Alliance
Clinical Instructor, Harvard Medical School
Lunch
Please join us for lunch and a welcome message from Schwartz Center leadership.
Speakers:
Matt Herndon
Chief Executive Officer, The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare
Beth A. Lown, MD
Chief Medical Officer, The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
General Session
In this presentation, Tim Cunningham, RN, DRPH, will share stories of his experiences as a humanitarian clown and a front-line caregiver during the West Africa Ebola outbreak, and he’ll honor the woman who taught him the most important lessons about nursing. Tim reminds us that we can see compassion everywhere if we simply open our eyes to it.
Speaker:
Tim Cunningham, DrPH, MSN, RN
Corporate Director of Patient and Family Centered Care, Emory Healthcare
Break
1:30 pm - 1:45 pm EST
Workshops, Panels, Abstracts
Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford adopted Stanford University’s School of Medicine Professional Fulfillment (PF) Model in 2017. By aligning all wellness and resilience efforts under the PF Model, LPCHS strives to improve a culture of wellness, personal resilience, and efficiency of practices for all clinical and non-clinical roles, hospital teams and satellite teams. Innumerable approaches can positively impact each domain of the PF Model. Discover one approach: “Compassion in the Workplace,” which is based on the research of Monica Worline, PhD, and Jane Dutton, PhD. Learn the domains of the PF Model, the four-part psychosocial compassion model, and develop individual and team improvements.
Speaker:
Jordana Harshman, MPH
Wellness Program Manager: Employee Health Improvement/Lifestyle Management, University of Stanford School of Medicine, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital
Founder, Health Career Accelerator
Schwartz Rounds are multi-disciplinary forums where healthcare professionals and staff — all of whom we call caregivers — gather to discuss the emotional and psychological challenges (and joys) inherent in daily patient care. Research has shown that Schwartz Rounds support caregivers’ compassion, enhance teamwork and reduce psychological distress. But many caregivers cannot leave their duties to participate. In response to calls to adapt Schwartz Rounds to the exigencies of daily care, we are bringing Schwartz Rounds to the point of care – on units and for teams – with “Unit-Based Schwartz Rounds.” Come learn about Schwartz Rounds Everywhere from facilitators at three sites across the country who pilot-tested the program over the past year. We’ll share information about the model, challenges and lessons learned and welcome your questions and interest.
Moderators:
Stephanie Adler Yuan, MS
Director of Education and Training, The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare
Beth A. Lown, MD
Chief Medical Officer, The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Panelists:
Julie Collier, PhD
Director of the Office of Professional Fulfillment and Resilience, Stanford Children's Health
Rev. Beth Loomis, MDiv
Director of Pastoral Care, Mount Auburn Hospital
Mary Walters, MSN, RN
Relationship-based Care Coordinator, OhioHealth
This workshop integrates communication skill development with training on culture, personal bias and stigma. Participants will take part in high-impact educational activities which integrate a cross-section of key concepts, with a focus on behavioral change associated with patient encounters. Participants will leave with knowledge and materials that will help guide their instruction of healthcare providers.
Speaker:
Mara Hoffert, PhD
Senior Instructional Design Consultant, Henry Ford Health System
Speaker:
Maria Kokas, PhD
Director of Learning Systems, Henry Ford Health System
In this presentation, Richard Bates, MD, will describe the importance of fostering a culture in which providers initiated a focus on burnout and engaged executive participation for support. He will cover the recognition of the impact of provider burnout on the organization and share how they utilized the data from their providers to illustrate the breadth of the problem. The design and implementation of interventions will be outlined and results of the work with leadership at the C-suite and board levels, as well as with the medical staff, will be shared.
Speaker:
Richard Bates, MD
Regional Vice President for Medical Affairs, MidMichigan Health
The Grayken Center for Addiction at Boston Medical Center (BMC) seeks to make long-term recovery possible for people suffering from substance use issues and recognizes that employers have a critical role to play in realizing this vision. BMC seeks to become a model employer in terms of how an organization can best support its employees suffering from addiction and mental health disorders, thereby improving organizational productivity and cost-savings, and building a culture of compassion and support around this stigmatized topic. In pursuit of this goal, the Grayken Center and the Department of Psychiatry at BMC designed and implemented an institution-wide survey to better understand the landscape of substance use and mental health issues for its employees including prevalence of and attitudes towards mental health and substance use issues, awareness of mental health and substance use resources, barriers to accessing these resources, and employees’ comfort levels in seeking treatment.
Speaker:
Claire Oppenheim, MPH
Research Program Manager, Boston Medical Center
The Program for Immigrant and Refugee Child Health (PIRCH) at Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children’s Hospital is an initiative to improve immigrant child health through better access to care, provider education, community collaboration and translational research. This presentation will describe the development of PIRCH and give examples of ways in which the academic institution works both internally and with external organizations to identify and fill gaps in immigrant child health services.
Speaker:
Karla Fredricks, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine
Director of the Program for Immigrant and Refugee Child Health (PIRCH), Texas Children’s Hospital
Peer support is psychosocially beneficial for parents whose children face chronic illness and ongoing treatment, thereby addressing a holistic need outside the scope of medical providers. In 2013, Nationwide Children’s Hospital established Connecting Families, a hospital-wide program with trained parent mentors who provide experiential knowledge and anticipatory guidance to mentees. Data collection from mentee surveys demonstrates that participants felt well-supported by volunteers and staff. This presentation briefly discusses the program, preliminary findings, and a more tailored survey instrument to evaluate whether or not Connecting Families has an effect on parental ability regarding adherence, self-advocacy and the navigation of complex care systems.
Speaker:
Amanda Kennedy, MA, MSW, LISW
Clinical Social Work Program Coordinator, Nationwide Children's Hospital
Break
3:00 pm - 3:15 pm EST
Workshops, Panels, Abstracts
Using short, accessible and powerful poems, this workshop will engage all participants and help them with three aims: to gain a new understanding of complexities of the human condition, to experience increased self-compassion for the challenges of providing healthcare in a stressful environment, and to appreciate a deeper connection with other participants. This workshop will address all the themes of this conference, and will also provide participants with tools to bring home and share these insights and practices.
Speaker:
Amy Ship, MA, MD, FACP
Primary Care Doctor and Educator, Atrius Health and Brigham and Women's Hospital
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Mass shootings, bombings and crimes resulting in multiple fatalities are increasing in number and scope in the U.S. In 2018 alone, there were at least 20 incidents in which four or more people were killed by non-accidental gun violence. The providers and teams who respond to these mass casualty events are unrelenting in their care and justifiably proud of their teamwork. But bearing witness to this scope of suffering — added to the daily care of ill and vulnerable patients — takes a profound toll. In one VA survey of providers, a third of respondents screened positive for PTSD. The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare, in collaboration with Women Writers in Medicine, is gathering stories, data and information about programs, resources and policies to support providers and staff who care for victims of mass casualty events. Join us in this workshop to share your experiences and reflections about what has been or could be helpful to support those who care for victims of violence.
Speaker:
Beth A. Lown, MD
Chief Medical Officer, The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Elizabeth Métraux
Founder, Women Writers in Medicine
At Northwell Health, providers voiced a need for evidence-based, empathetic communication skills education to enhance their relationships with patients and families. Through collaboration, a full-day experiential curriculum titled “Relationship Centered Communication” (RCC) was developed. Panelists will present their unique perspectives regarding RCC, implementation strategy, sustainment methodologies and research findings, and will lead a dynamic discussion around how robust communication skills programming impacts patient experience, provider engagement and core elements surrounding joy at work, burnout and resilience.
Moderator:
Agnes Barden, DNP, RN, CPXP
Vice President, Patient and Customer Experience, Northwell Health
Panelists:
Daniel Baker, MD
Medical Director, Lenox Hill Hospital
Jeffery Zilberstein, MD
Vice Chairman, Department of Medicine, Northwell Health System
Chief of Medical Critical Care,, Northwell Health System
Every Schwartz Rounds program has its victories and its road bumps – so does every Schwartz Rounds facilitator. And there’s no better source of support and expertise than other Schwartz Rounds leaders. During this interactive workshop, all Schwartz Rounds leaders – facilitators, physician leaders, coordinators and committee members – are invited to come together for a dynamic problem-solving session that’s certain to leave you feeling renewed, energized, and inspired to meet your Schwartz Rounds program challenges head-on. Bring your questions, concerns and creativity.
Speakers:
Stephanie Adler Yuan, MS
Director of Education and Training, The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare
Kathy Scopin, BSN, PHN, RN
Member Experience Advisor - West, The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare
C.A.R.E. (Compassion, Acceptance, Regroup, Energize) Cart Rounds are a version of Schwartz Center “pop-up rounds” that provide physical and emotional sustenance to the healthcare team. C.A.R.E. Cart Rounds are an informal way to extend the compassion of Schwartz Rounds to our medical center staff on both day and night shifts. Armed with tea, cookies and listening ears, the C.A.R.E. Cart is designed to support increasingly excellent, compassionate patient care through direct support of bedside staff.
Speaker:
A. Paige Volk, MD
Medical Director, Children’s Medical Center Plano PICU
Chief of Intensive Care and Inpatient Services, Children’s Medical Center Plano
Hospitalists are charged with the task of caring for and navigating patients from admission to discharge during their hospitalization. With well-structured, collaborative multi-disciplinary rounding, hospitalists can lead positive change and transform hospital culture to really become a safe patient-centered environment that focuses on direct communication between the patient and their care team.
Speaker:
Dhaval Desai, MD
Director of Hospital Medicine and Distinguished Physician, Emory Saint Joseph's Hospital
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Emory School of Medicine
Speaker:
Ingrid Pinzon, MD, FACP
Assistant Professor of Hospital Medicine, Emory University
Medical Director Care Coordination and CDI, Emory Johns Creek Hospital
Pain and suffering are universal constructs present in all human experience — both in patients and care providers. Learn more about this study investigating the relationship between a traditional measure of burnout and measures of suffering, distress and overall well-being in third-year medical students. Simultaneously, researchers sought to elucidate the stressful or painful events in students’ lives that they perceived contribute toward suffering.
Speaker:
Nina Bihani
Fourth-Year Medical Student, Wayne State University School of Medicine
The Resident Trading Card Program was created as a novel initiative to bring residents back to their patients’ bedsides and engage more deeply with them. First-year pediatric residents used personalized trading cards as a means of introduction to patients and families, with patients subsequently asked to create their own cards to share with the residents. With more than 150 interactions having taken place as part of the program, quantitative and qualitative surveys have shown that the project has helped build the physician-patient relationship and connections to families, as well as impacted resident wellness.
Speaker:
Joshua Belfer, MD
Chief Resident of the Pediatric Residency Program, Cohen Children’s Medical Center
The “Tell Me More” program at various Northwell hospital sites engages clinical teams to connect with patients as people. It functions as a way to build trust, facilitate more personal and compassionate communication between patients and their healthcare providers, and to remind patients of their unique strengths. It also has merit as a transferable and cost-effective model to improve the hospitalized patient and family experience, specifically their interaction with the healthcare team.
Speaker:
Kelsey McLeod, MD
Pediatrics Resident, Cohen Children’s Medical Center
Break
4:30 pm - 4:45 pm EST
The River
When Christine Tardiff was a graduate student, she was invited to the Suffolk County House of Correction in Boston to conduct prayer-movement workshops. A ritual of relationship born from this experience, “The River” invites us to ask, “What will our response to suffering be?” When giving and receiving are part of the same movement, power differentials are minimized. This is the place from whence compassion flows. Incarcerated women gave life to “The River,” even as corrections officers looked on with cautious curiosity. Tardiff has since taken “The River” to numerous conferences, workshops, hospitals and classrooms to engage imaginations and deepen dialogue. Open to all, regardless of physical ability. Shoes are optional!
Presenter:
Christine Tardiff, MSW, LICSW, MAPM
Clinical Social Worker, Boston Children’s Hospital
Member Cocktail Reception
5:15 pm - 6:00 pm EST
Please join us for drinks, light appetizers and networking.
Corman IMPACT Honors Dinner
The Corman IMPACT (Innovative Member Programs Advancing Compassion and Teamwork) Honors Dinner celebrates Schwartz Center healthcare member organizations that are making a transformative impact by creating programs or initiatives that promote compassionate collaborative care within their organization or system.
Join us as Jim Braude interviews Dr. Cheri Blauwet about how she became an elite Paralympian athlete, Boston Marathon winner of the wheelchair division, and an expert in medicine, rehabilitation and sports medicine. Jim, well known to Boston public radio and television fans, is the astute host of WGBH’s news analysis show, Greater Boston, and co-host of Boston Public Radio. Their conversation will touch upon breaking through patients’ and colleagues’ stereotypes, developing a positive sense of identity and personal resilience.
Cheri Blauwet, MD
Jim Braude
Registration and Breakfast
7:00 am - 8:00 am EST
Welcome and Keynote
Please join us for an introduction from Schwartz Center CMO Beth Lown, MD, and CEO Matt Herndon.
Speakers:
Matt Herndon
Chief Executive Officer, The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare
Beth A. Lown, MD
Chief Medical Officer, The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Susan B. Hassmiller, PhD, RN, FAAN, the senior adviser for nursing at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, will share her perspective of her husband’s last days in the intensive care unit and stress the need for clinicians to prioritize the patient experience. Dr. Hassmiller will be joined by Abby Karlsson, CRNA, who provided exceptional compassionate care to Dr. Hassmiller’s husband. The speakers will make the case that quality and safety will improve when the medical establishment truly prioritizes patient and family engagement.
Speaker:
Susan B. Hassmiller, RN, PhD, FAAN
Senior Adviser for Nursing, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Director, Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action
Speaker:
Abby Karlsson, MSN, CRNA
Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, Capital Health
This talk will present key insights from Amy Edmondson’s new book, The Fearless Organization, which explains what psychological safety at work is (and just as important, what it isn’t) and why it matters more than ever in today’s healthcare organizations. With so much riding on innovation, creativity and engagement, today’s organizational leaders know it’s essential to attract, cultivate and retain talented employees – but it’s even more important to ensure that they are able to speak up. Ensuring high ethical standards also rests on the perceived ability – by everyone – to speak up with questions and concerns, to catch and correct errors and problems quickly. Participants will leave with tips for building psychological safety in the workplace, drawing from both academic research and case studies that span industries.
Speaker:
Amy C. Edmondson, PhD
Professor of Leadership and Management, Harvard Business School
Break
9:30 am - 9:45 am EST
Panels and Workshops
This workshop will focus on skills of self-awareness, attending to suffering, deep listening to others and the use of narratives to transform work settings into opportunities for mindful practice and mindful action. The workshop will be divided into three segments. The first will be “Noticing: what we attend to,” and will examine what we choose to attend to and how (15 minutes). The second segment will be “Responding to suffering,” and will encompass suffering of clients, patients, colleagues and ourselves (30 minutes). The third segment will be “Communicating mindfully,” and will focus on recognizing and enhancing strengths to truly flourish in the workplace (30 minutes). The session will include a lecture, dialogues in pairs, group discussion and contemplative practices that can be applied to the workplace.
Speaker:
Ron Epstein, MD
Professor of Family Medicine, Psychiatry, Oncology and Medicine (Palliative Care), University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry
Speaker:
Mick Krasner, MD, FACP
Professor of Clinical Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Professor of Clinical Family Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Co-Director Mindful Practice Programs, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Patient stories and collaboration have so much to teach us about how to redesign the healthcare system. In this session you’ll learn about successful models that transformed communities and care delivery for vulnerable populations.
Moderator:
Lauran Hardin, MSN, RN-BC, CNL, FNAP
Senior Advisor, Partnerships and Technical Assistance, The Camden Coalition’s National Center for Complex Health and Social Needs
Panelists:
Scott Reiner
CEO, Adventist Health
Shelly Trumbo, MBA
Community Integration Executive, Adventist Health
Drawing upon the Art Gallery in the AMA Journal of Ethics, this presentation will emphasize relationships among art, narrative and related interdisciplinary healthcare ethics and humanities topics. Learners in attendance will have opportunities to experience art, reflect on their futures as clinicians, resonate with the humanities and visual art in this phase of their professional development, internalize the humanistic impulses of artists whose work is represented, critically appraise their own patterns of perception, and relate their own sensitivities to their relationships with patients, patients’ loved ones, and colleagues
Speaker:
Christy Rentmeester, PhD
Director, Managing Editor, AMA Journal of Ethics, American Medical Association
We know that social determinants and context influence health far more than the care we provide within our healthcare facilities. As our population ages, more and more states, cities, towns and communities are drafting plans to develop compassionate age and dementia-friendly communities and health systems. Traditionally, housing, social services and healthcare systems have not always worked well together to design and implement these systems effectively. This session will bring together leaders from government, public policy, healthcare and municipal agencies to discuss new ideas on how to move the age and dementia-friendly agendas forward in a positive and progressive way. Expert panelists will discuss specific community and personal examples.
Moderator:
Alice Bonner, PhD, RN, FAAN
Senior Advisor, Institute for Healthcare Improvement
Adjunct Faculty, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing
Panelists:
Maura Brennan, MD
Chief, Division of Geriatrics, Palliative Care and Post-acute Medicine, Baystate Health (BH)
Professor of Medicine, Univ. of Massachusetts Medical School-Baystate
Program Director, BH Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program
Assoc. Medical Director, Baystate Hospice
James Fuccione
Senior Director, Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative
Patty Sullivan
Program Director, Dementia Friendly Massachusetts
The care and compassion we show our patients sometimes does not generalize to our colleagues. Dysfunctional team dynamics have been shown to lead to nearly three-quarters of medical errors. Coupled with sobering statistics about burnout in health professionals, awareness of and training about exemplary colleague-colleague interactions is necessary. We will describe findings from the literature on interactions between healthcare colleagues, facilitate participants in exploring and identifying skills to use when interacting with other colleagues, and ask participants to practice one skill in real-life situations.
Speakers:
Calvin Chou, MD, PhD
Professor of Clinical Medicine, University of California at San Francisco
Ellen Pearlman, MD, FACH
Associate Dean for Advanced Clinical Learning, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
Cathy Risdon, MD, DMan
Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Family Medicine, McMaster
As physicians, we care for patients and families facing emotionally wrenching circumstances. We also encounter them in our own lives. Writing provides an opportunity to integrate these experiences and share them with a broader audience. On our panel, two physicians who are New York Times contributors will discuss the power of compassion and connection they have achieved through writing about their personal stories. Our third panelist, a doctor, writer and minister, founded the Medical Humanities Program at Baylor University. He will discuss the importance of writing and education in training compassionate and empathetic practitioners. We invite the audience to participate and to share their perspectives.
Moderator:
Joseph Stern, MD, FACS
Neurosurgeon & Partner, Carolina Neurosurgery and Spine Associates
Panelists:
Michael Attas, MDiV, MD
Author, Medicine at a Crossroads
Mikkael Sekeres, MD, MS
Director, Leukemia Program, Department of Hematologic Oncology and Blood Disorders, Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute
In this presentation, Dr. Zev Schuman-Olivier will outline the impact of medication non-adherence on addiction and mental health treatment. He will review the current research associated with technology-based approaches to enhancing medication adherence, the impact of stigma on medication adherence and treatment, and review an innovative approach that integrates remote medication delivery and compassionate mobile recovery coaching. Dr. Schuman-Olivier will speak about the potential to use group-based treatment to create common humanity and to increase access to treatment as well as the potential for mobile technology to transform the delivery of opioid use disorder treatment while enhancing the role that human connection, empathy and compassionate community can play in healing and recovery.
Zev Schuman-Olivier, MD
Executive Director, CHA Center for Mindfulness and Compassion
Research Director, CHA Center for Mindfulness and Compassion
Medical Director, Addiction Services and Director of Addiction Residency Education and Mindful Mental Health Service, Cambridge Health Alliance
Break
11:00 am - 11:15 am EST
Panels and Workshops
This panel will explore the harm caused by the discrimination and stigma that people who use drugs frequently experience in the healthcare system. Through personal narrative and insight from clinicians, harm reductionists and individuals with lived experience, panelists will describe the healing power of compassionate, dignified, person-centered care and provide examples for how to restore compassion into practice.
Moderator:
Sarah Wakeman, MD
Medical Director, Substance Use Disorders Initiative, Massachusetts General Hospital
Panelists:
Sarah Mackin, MPH
Director of Harm Reduction Services, Boston Public Health Commission
Kiame Mahaniah, MD
Chief Executive Officer, Lynn Community Health Center
Assistant Professor Family Medicine Department, Tufts University School of Medicine
Jess Tilley
Executive Director, New England User's Union
Healthcare professionals and leaders are increasingly aware of the negative impact of moral distress, burnout, anxiety and depression. Some welcome initiatives aimed at enhancing resilience. Others criticize the premise that the problem is a lack of individual resilience and point to organizational expectations that impede one’s ability to meaningfully connect with others and offer truly patient- centered care. Expert panelists will tackle these issues head-on as they see them through the lenses of ethical practice, organizational leadership, public health and healthcare policy.
Moderator:
Paul DeChant, MD, MBA, FAAFP
Deputy Chief Health Officer, IBM Watson Health
Panelists:
Laura Burke, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Attending Emergency Physician, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Cynda Hylton Rushton, PhD, RN, FAAN
Anne and George L. Bunting Professor of Clinical Ethics, Berman Institute of Bioethics/School of Nursing
Professor of Nursing and Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University
Steve Strongwater, MD
President & CEO, Atrius Health
The concern that technology may interfere with the patient-caregiver relationship is as old as the hills. When the stethoscope was first invented two centuries ago, some people proclaimed the end of hands-on doctoring—the comforting touch of a physician’s ear on the patient’s chest. The explosion of new healthcare technologies over the past several decades—in particular the introduction of the computer and tablet in the exam room and at the bedside—has inspired similar concern about the distancing of technology. Healthcare information technology has the potential to strengthen patient-caregiver relationships by improving communication, promoting a shared understanding of patients’ needs, making care more efficient, and reducing fragmentation and errors. This panel will explore the pros and cons of advanced technology in healthcare and the impact on the patient-caregiver relationship.
Moderator:
Ann King, MA
Senior Assessment Scientist in the Center for Advanced Assessment, National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME)
Panelists:
Gregory Makoul, PhD, MS
Founder and CEO, PatientWisdom
Daniel Olson
Group Vice President, Provider Solutions Account Management, American Well
Traditionally, empathetic resonance has been taught using art and literature. Hearing the voices of suffering through music can enable individuals to open compassionately to others. We will explore constructs of suffering and flourishing through music, music videos and movement, and will teach the letting go of suffering and how to choose flourishing.
Speaker:
David Richardson, MD
Clinical Educator in Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery, Henry Ford Health System
Since the first Schwartz Rounds at the MGH in 1998, the program has spread and evolved across hundreds of healthcare organizations around the world. By providing a forum where healthcare staff can come together to engage openly and honestly about the profound emotional experiences of caregiving, Schwartz Rounds has enabled thousands of caregivers to connect in new ways with their colleagues and the work they do. During this panel discussion, we’ll hear from representatives of four very different Schwartz Center Healthcare Members about the nature and impact of Schwartz Rounds at their institutions.
Moderator:
Stephanie Adler Yuan, MS
Director of Education and Training, The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare
Panelists:
Mary Tess Crotty, MA
Vice President of Quality, Genesis
Ross Hays, MD
Ethics Consultant, Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics
Medical Director, Palliative Care Consultation Service, Seattle Children's Hospital
Casey Kudesia, MA
Director of Training and Organizational Development, Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts
Jody White, DNP, RN, NE-BC
Nurse Manager, Heart & Lung Transplant ICU, Central Monitoring/Telemetry Dept, Cardiovascular Service Line, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)
In this workshop, we will explore how listening and story-sharing can engage individuals and groups in the deep questions of meaning around our inner lives, outer lives and life together. We will examine together various projects of storytelling and meaningful conversation, how they can benefit healthcare organizations and the people they serve, as well as best practices for individuals and groups that are looking to bring this work and intention into their organizational culture.
Speaker:
Eddie Gonzalez
Engagement Manager, Civil Conversations Project, On Being Project
Anyone who has attended Schwartz Rounds has experienced the ways in which these interprofessional conversations foster community and understanding. But how can we measure the impact of Schwartz Rounds to maximize its value to our organizations? During this session, you’ll hear research data about the outcomes of Schwartz Rounds, explore evidence that compassion effects meaningful organizational change, and join a discussion about building the evidence base for compassion’s impact on patients, healthcare professionals and staff, and healthcare organizations.
Moderator:
Beth A. Lown, MD
Chief Medical Officer, The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Panelists:
Jill Maben, OBE, PhD, MSc, BA (Hons), RN, PGCE
Professor of Health Services Research and Nursing, University of Surrey, UK
Colleen Manning, MA
Director of Research, Goodman Research Group, Inc.
Steve Trzeciak, MD, MPH
Chief of Medicine, Cooper University Healthcare
Author, “Compassionomics: The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence that Caring Makes a Difference”
Lunch
12:30 pm EST
Keynote Conversation
The Schwartz Center’s Call to Action outlines seven guiding commitments to create a more compassionate healthcare system. The first commitment of the Call to Action is the Commitment to Compassionate Healthcare Leadership. Healthcare leaders who embrace and model compassion foster a culture of compassion within their institutions and organizations. They play a crucial role in communicating the value and benefits of compassionate care and marshaling the resources necessary to make compassionate care possible.
Moderator:
Richard J. Baron, MD, MACP
President and CEO, American Board of Internal Medicine and ABIM Foundation
Panelists:
Akram Boutros, MD, FACHE
President and CEO, MetroHealth
Laura Crooks, BS, OTR, MHA
CEO, Yakima Children’s Village
Peter Slavin, MD
President, Massachusetts General Hospital
Professor of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School
Keynote Conversation
Michael Hebb, founder of the international movement, Death Over Dinner, and author of Let’s Talk About Death (Over Dinner), shares his journey bringing one of the great taboo topics into the mainstream. We will explore what is possible when we courageously face our own mortality and how improving our death literacy can deepen our skills as clinicians, increase our capacity to love and even enrich our sense of humor.
Speaker:
Michael Hebb
Author, “Let’s Talk About Death (Over Dinner)”
Founder, Death Over Dinner
Break
2:45 pm - 3:00 pm EST
Workshops and Abstracts
Expanding on his keynote presentation, Michael Hebb will lead us through tactical skills for this difficult and critical conversation. We will cover the practical realities of initiating the conversation and creating safe space, and examine our own beliefs, biases, fears and hopes.
Speakers:
Michael Hebb
Author, “Let’s Talk About Death (Over Dinner)”
Founder, Death Over Dinner
Jordana Jacobs, PhD
Clinical Psychologist
Through this interactive and hands-on workshop, team members from The Center to Advance Consumer Partnership will discuss various approaches to achieving authentic consumer partnerships within a healthcare organization, highlight Commonwealth Care Alliance’s model as an example for creating a consumer partnership-centered business, and demonstrate the power of end-to-end consumer experience journey-mapping as a transformative framework that helps healthcare leaders view their organizations through the lens of consumers with complex needs. Participants will gain insights into their organizations’ strengths and opportunities related to consumer partnerships, explore key foundational elements necessary to advance organizational maturity, and engage in simulated journey-mapping exercises.
Speaker:
Melinda Karp, MBA
Vice President of Consumer Centered Quality, Commonwealth Care Alliance
Executive Director, The Center to Advance Consumer Partnership
Speaker:
Jean Paglicua Smith, JD
Director of Consumer Centered Quality Programs, Commonwealth Care Alliance
Operations Director, The Center to Advance Consumer Partnership
“Find Your Funny” offers the chance to physically explore the “space in between” where clinician and patient relationships thrive. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in theatre exercises that are not only fun, but allow the individual a chance to better understand how they resonate as a human being within a larger group. These exercises inform the work of groups like Clowns Without Borders and other professional hospital clown organizations, and they foster the opportunity for laughter and ultimately compassion through unique forms of communication. Being a funny person is not required for this workshop, you just need to be present.
Speaker:
Tim Cunningham, DrPH, MSN, RN
Corporate Director of Patient and Family Centered Care, Emory Healthcare
Has your healthcare organization built systems to reliably receive, record and respect information about what matters most to patients at the end of their lives? IHI’s “Conversation Ready” work has evolved for six years across all segments of the healthcare spectrum. Come learn from our physician faculty about the five principles of being “Conversation Ready” and get practical, testable examples of how to get started and keep improving. Participants will have an opportunity to share their own experiences of and systems for engaging patients and families on these important topics.
Speaker:
Kate Lally, MD, FAAHPM
Attending Physician, Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care, Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Instructor, Harvard Medical School
There is a growing need for healthcare providers who are skilled in treating patients who identify as transgender and gender nonbinary. This interactive workshop will explore key factors for providing compassionate healthcare to this population, including effectively conducting community outreach, ensuring that healthcare settings are psychologically safe spaces, and sharing best practices with other healthcare providers via educational forums.
Speaker:
Helena Roderick, PhD
Clinical Psychologist, Northwell Health
Speaker:
David Rosenthal, DO, PhD
Medical Director, Center for Transgender Care, Northwell Health Physician Partners
Mindfulness has been substantially investigated as a stress-reduction approach for healthcare practitioners over the past decade, and its application in the context of the Asian workplace is worth exploring. Given that there is a new public hospital to be established in Hong Kong, a four-hour mindfulness training was provided to their hospital team, including clinical and nonclinical staff, before the commencement of clinical service. The rationale of the program design, strategies in working with the stakeholders and quantitative data showing the changes in their psychological well-being, self-compassion and sense of self-efficacy after completion of the training will be presented.
Speaker:
Venus P.Y. Wong
Associate Director, Centre on Behavioral Health, Hong Kong
In April 2017, the South Australian Chief Psychiatrist released the Oakden Report, documenting failures in governance, clinical practice and organizational culture occurring at the Oakden Older Persons’ Mental Health Service, a state-wide extended care facility for older people with complex needs, precipitating a highly public and political Australian health and aged care scandal. Responding to the recommendations of the report, a working group brought together stakeholders to engage in a co-design process to develop a framework as a blueprint for organizational culture reform built around a central philosophy of compassionate relationship-centered care, supported by four priorities: developing a values-based workforce, cultivating psychological safety, facilitating excellence in care and providing transparent accountability. The purpose of the framework was to provide a way forward for South Australian services after the Oakden Report and may provide insight into similar processes of co-design and culture change in other service contexts.
Speaker:
Duncan McKellar
Head of Unit, Older Persons' Mental Health Service, Northern Adelaide Local Health Network, South Australian Department of Health and Wellbeing
Mothers with substance involvement are typically viewed as a hard-to-serve population, with poor outcomes impacting not only the women themselves, but also their children. This qualitative research study asked mothers about their health, counselling, social and addictions services experiences to inform future practice and service delivery decision making. Four key themes will be described, in the context of two decades worth of academic literature, using a socio-ecological model and a multi-petal flower diagram.
Speaker:
Kristen Jones-Bonofiglio, PhD, RN
Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing and the Director of the Centre for Health Care Ethics, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario
This research study in Singapore sought to understand how children diagnosed with cancer, their family caregivers and healthcare providers created the meaning of hope. In particular, the study explored how each group defined hope, what hope means to them, how did they use hope in the context of cancer care, and whether the meaning of hope changed over time and in the treatment of disease.
Speaker:
Subadhra Rai, RN, PhD
Registered Nurse and Research Fellow, Centre for Biomedical Ethics, National University of Singapore
Break
4:15 pm - 4:30 pm EST
Reception
5:00 pm - 6:00 pm EST
Please join us for drinks and light appetizers.
Story Slam
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm EST
Everyone has a story, especially healthcare professionals. We will hear some of them at a special storytelling event featuring meaningful moments from the field as told by conference attendees. Join us for authentic stories about inspiring patients, important lessons learned from colleagues, and extraordinary acts of compassion.
Registration and Breakfast
7:00 am - 7:55 am EST
General Session
Welcome
Please join us for welcome remarks from the Mayor of Boston.
Speaker:
Martin J. Walsh
Mayor, City of Boston
Dr. Riess will discuss the causes of the widening compassion gap in U.S. healthcare and the impact on health outcomes, quality, safety, patient and provider experience, clinician burnout and climbing healthcare costs. She will present research that demonstrates the gap can be narrowed with organizational commitments to empathic and compassionate care.
Speaker:
Helen Riess, MD
Founder, Empathetics, Inc.
Director, Empathy Program, Massachusetts General Hospital
Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
The verdict is in: It is clear that the experience of care impacts the quality and safety of care. And yet, headlines abound proclaiming an epidemic of burnout in healthcare. How can patients get high-quality, safe and compassionate care when caregivers aren’t thriving? Join this interactive session featuring a panel of dynamic business executives who share insights into how their organizations, acclaimed for customer service, create compassionate workplaces where employees can deliver optimal client experiences.
Moderator:
Harris Baden, MD
Chief of Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care, Seattle Children’s Hospital
Professor, University of Washington School of Medicine
Panelists:
Katie Bach, MEc, MBA
Managing Director, the Good Jobs Institute
Former Director of Global Strategy, Starbucks
Sarah McKenna
Senior Vice President of Fan Services, Boston Red Sox
Paul Morton
Senior Vice President Northeast Regional Manager, Nordstrom
Break
9:40 am - 9:50 am EST
Panels and Workshops
Many clinicians strive to have effective and empathetic clinician communication, yet do not have a rigorous approach to evaluate and improve their communication skills. The Video-Based Communication Assessment (VCA) is a mobile platform designed to enhance patient-clinician communication by providing clinicians with an opportunity to practice communication around frequently encountered clinical scenarios, and receive feedback from lay-patients. In this workshop, participants will learn about the VCA tool, discuss the communication content in small groups, and compare their responses to lay-patient responses.
Speakers:
Kimberly Fisher, MD, MSc
Practicing Pulmonary/Critical Care Physician and Health Services Researcher, University of Massachusetts Medical School
Ann King, MA
Senior Assessment Scientist in the Center for Advanced Assessment, National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME)
Kathleen Mazor, EDD
Associate Director, Meyers Primary Care Institute
Thea Gallis Musselman, MPH
Research Administrator, Center for Advanced Assessment, National Board of Medical Examiners
Happenings on the United States-Mexico border are front page news every day. Many of these events put the psychological and physical health of children at risk, and at the same time, take an emotional toll on those providing humanitarian care. Moral distress and burnout are epidemic. What happens to compassion? This interactive panel provides the perspective of two front-line pediatricians, an immigration lawyer and a religious leader.
Moderator:
Fernando Stein, MD, FAAP
Associate Chief of Critical Care, Texas Children’s Hospital
Panelists:
Karla Fredricks, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine
Director of the Program for Immigrant and Refugee Child Health (PIRCH), Texas Children’s Hospital
Hope Frye, JD
Consulting Specialist in Immigration & Human Rights Law
Marsha Griffin, MD
Director, Division of Child and Family Health, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine
Professor of Pediatrics, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine
Co-Founder, Community for Children
Sister Norma Pimentel
Executive Director, Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley
This session explores the intersection of human-centered design thinking and “real life” problem solving and healthcare system improvement. Participants will engage in an experiential exercise to introduce principals of design thinking, learn from two case studies in healthcare improvement that borrow design thinking tools to build understanding of lived experiences of patients, and consider opportunities for application in their own context. Through this workshop, participants will explore tools that enable the application of compassion as a core value in system improvement.
Speaker:
Maren Batalden, MD, MPH
Associate Chief Quality Officer, Associate Director of Graduate Medical Education for Quality and Safety, and Director of Medical Management within the Accountable Care Organization, Cambridge Health Alliance
Speaker:
Tiffany Christensen, CPXP
Vice President for Experience Innovation, The Beryl Institute
The panel will discuss a program titled “3 Wishes.” The overall goal of 3 Wishes is to improve the quality of the dying experience. Eligible patients are imminently dying: those placed on end-of-life protocol, those going to home hospice, or those at the point of withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment. We will discuss the 3 Wishes process, especially how 3 Wishes has improved communication with patients and families at an often very difficult time. Families expressed that 3 Wishes have brought them peace, comfort and a sense that they are cared for.
Moderator:
Patricia Jakel, RN, MN, AOCN
Advance Practice Nurse, Solid Tumor Program, UCLA Healthcare
Panelists:
Yuhan Kao, RN, MSN, CNS
Clinical Nurse Specialist, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center MICU
Thanh Neville, MD, MSHS
Board-Certified Pulmonary and Critical Care Physician, UCLA Medical Center
Co-Founder, UCLA 3 Wishes Project
Peter Phung, MD, MBA
Board-certified Hospice and Palliative Care Physician, UCLA Medical Center
Co-Founder, UCLA 3 Wishes Project
Learn how a specifically designed self-compassion practice has shifted the culture of a children’s level I trauma hospital in Texas. We’ll explore the IRB study results, experience a few of the practices that they learned and discuss why this particular intervention alters the potentially toxic culture of healthcare.
Speaker:
Rev. Krista Gregory, MDiv, BCC
Founder, Center for Resiliency, Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas
Speaker:
Phoebe Long, PhD
Research Coordinator Center for Resiliency, Dell Children's Medical Center
One in eight visits to the emergency department is related to a mental health or substance abuse issue. And yet, EDs remain challenged to address these individuals’ needs because of a variety of issues, including regulations, policies, training, culture, stigma, and the lack of integration and connectivity to other settings in the community. This panel will discuss recent efforts by CRICO aimed at exploring the importance of managing this patient population with dignity and outlines ways to safely support patients and their caregivers.
Moderator:
Lorraine Ryan, BSN, MPA, Esq.
Senior Vice President, Legal, Regulatory, and Professional Affairs, Greater New York Hospital Association
Panelists:
William Baker, MD
Vice Chair of Quality and Patient Safety and Head of Emergency Medicine, Boston Medical Center
Carol Keohane, RN
Assistant Vice President, Patient Safety, CRICO
Susan Wilner, LCSW
Assistant Director for Behavioral Health Services, Stony Brook Medicine
Ashley Yeats, MD, FACEP
Emergency Physician, BID-Milton
Break
11:05 am - 11:20 am EST
Panels, Workshops and Abstracts
In light of the opioid epidemic, police officers are learning new skills and assuming new roles. This presentation will highlight how local police departments are tackling the opioid crisis through non-arrest strategies that create pathways to treatment and recovery. Featuring a peer recovery coach, a police chief, and PAARI’s executive director, this presentation will explain how and why police-led non-arrest outreach programs can strengthen officers’ ability to save lives, improve public safety and effectively address addiction in their communities.
Moderator:
Allie Hunter McDade
Executive Director, Police Assisted Addiction & Recovery Initiative (PAARI)
Panelists:
Chief Scott Allen
Chief of Police, East Bridgewater, MA
Member, Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (PAARI) National Police Advisory Committee
David Barash, MD
Executive Director, GE Foundation
Ursel Hughes, NCPRSS, CHW
PAARI AmeriCorps Recovery Coach, Boston Police Department
After defining photo-elicitation and tolerance for ambiguity, we will review an intervention using cell phone photography workshops for homeless veterans processing post-traumatic stress in group settings. Workshop participants will then capture images in response to a prompt from the facilitator, then return to the workshop to upload and share an image. The facilitator will encourage visual thinking strategies to elicit reflection among participants in response to each image, with the goal of improving confidence among participants to lead a similar workshop at their own institution. We will end with resources for medical humanities by institution.
Speaker:
Yeuen Kim, MD, MAS
Clinical Assistant Professor, Stanford University School of Medicine
Healthcare providers are naturally motivated by compassion and the desire to see others relieved of distress. And yet sustaining such a compassionate motivation proves difficult over the long term for many. Come to this workshop to explore a research-based method, CBCT® (Cognitively-Based Compassion Training), that has shown benefits in multiple randomized trials and is offered in numerous medical settings to support the resilience and compassion of healthcare providers.
Speaker:
Timothy Harrison
Associate Director for CBCT®, Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-Based Ethics, Emory University
Speaker:
Maureen Shelton
Director of Education, Spiritual Health, Emory Healthcare
Noting a rising trend in the mental health needs of children and youth with disabilities, and recognizing that this is a critically important yet underdeveloped skill of our clinicians, Holland Bloorview responded with a bold vision for mental health: “Enabling a child’s health mind, body and spirit.” This workshop will showcase the effectiveness of think tank methodology in developing compassionate, inclusive and responsive mental health services for children and youth with disabilities, and will demonstrate how this approach fosters a cultural change within a pediatric rehabilitation hospital setting through consensus-building and shared decision-making.
Speaker:
Joanne Maxwell, PhD (c), MSc, BScOT, OT Reg. (Ont.), BSc, PMP, CHE
Senior Director Collaborative Practice, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital
Speaker:
Nancy Searl, RECE
Collaborative Practice Leader, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital
This panel discussion will focus on the Compassionate Care Initiative’s research, educational and collaborative efforts in relation to understanding how compassion takes place in the healthcare context. The panel members will discuss how they employed an innovative methodology to develop a quantitative tool to assess compassionate care behaviors, and test the impact of a contemplative, compassionate practice on healthcare providers’ responses to stress.
Moderator:
Tim Cunningham, DrPH, MSN, RN
Corporate Director of Patient and Family Centered Care, Emory Healthcare
Panelists:
Jonathan Bartels, RN
Health System Liaison, Compassionate Care Initiative (CCI), University Of Virginia School Of Nursing
Ebru Cayir, MD, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Compassionate Care Initiative, School of Nursing, University of Virginia
Julie Haizlip, MD, MAPP
Clinical Professor of Nursing, University of Virginia School of Nursing
Attending Physician, University of Virginia Department of Pediatrics
Director, UVA Center for Appreciative Practice
Co-Director, Center for ASPIRE
Chiquita Melvin
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Drama, UVA
The epidemic of burnout is well known among physicians and clinicians. The Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America is committed to strategies to help its members. The first step is to identify the scope of the problem. This survey of pediatric orthopaedic surgeons establishes the baseline of where the work begins.
Speaker:
Jennifer Weiss, MD
Regional Surgical Services Team Southern California Permanente Medical Group
Assistant Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery, Los Angeles Medical Center
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease found worldwide and more commonly found among persons of color. In the present study, a dyadic mindfulness-based group therapy, focusing on interpersonal communication and relational practices was deployed; it consisted of an 8-week training in relaxation, mind-body interaction, emotional awareness, cognitive restructuring, and interpersonal mindfulness. Perceived stress and interpretational stress decreased over time and markers of SLE changed over time. Presenters will discuss implications for marginalized communities and how just relational practices can foster healing.
Speaker:
Dallas Ducar, MSN, RN, CNL, NREMT-B
Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Transgender Health Program, Massachusetts General Hospital
Over the past decade, the importance of physician well-being has moved to the forefront of national dialogue about healthcare. While the efficacy of some institutionally-sponsored interventions for physician well-being have been evaluated, there is little data exploring broader issues of availability and utilization of these offerings. We conducted a cross-sectional national survey of physicians in five pediatric subspecialties (neonatology, critical care, palliative care, emergency medicine, and hematology-oncology) to: (1) characterize existing institutionally-sponsored wellness offerings; (2) determine utilization of available institutionally-sponsored wellness activities; and (3) identify interventions physicians wish were available to them.
Speakers:
Jeanie Gribben
Medical Student, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Samuel Kase
Medical Student, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
There is a lack of training opportunities in end-of-life care, especially in home settings, and yet there are nearly 80 residential homes for the dying across the U.S. in need of caregivers. This presentation will describe a Community Action, Research, and Education (CARE) program that places students in these unique community-run homes to serve as surrogate family members providing bedside care to hospice patients. Attendees will be able to discuss the gaps in care that homes for the dying address and how educational partnerships with these homes can help cultivate communities of compassionate caregivers.
Speaker:
Carol Weisse, PhD
Director of Health Professions and Professor of Psychology, Union College
When the adult ICUs revised their open visitation policy to include an allowance for children of any age to visit adult patients, the healthcare team felt ill-equipped to meet the needs of patients’ children. Presenters will detail steps for position creation, resources developed, and interventions utilized by the child life specialists to care for the needs of child visitors.
Speaker:
Shannon Sonnhalter, CCLS
Child Life Senior Manager, Cleveland Clinic Healthcare System
Speaker:
Tina Ulanowski, MEd, CCLS
Child Life Assistant Manager, Cleveland Clinic Children's
Lunch/Networking Time
12:35 pm - 1:05 pm EST
Patient Story
Shekinah N. C. Elmore, MD, MPH, a senior resident in the Harvard Radiation Oncology Program, will share her dual experiences as an oncology patient and provider and how this has framed how she cares for herself and her patients. She will make the case that humility and humanity should remain at the forefront of cancer care even as we enter the era of precision medicine.
Speaker:
Shekinah Elmore, MD, MPH
Resident, Harvard Radiation Oncology Program
Introduced By:
Beth A. Lown, MD
Chief Medical Officer, The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Some systems are so broken that they cannot be fixed with incremental improvements. They require rethinking and building from scratch. Disruptive Innovation is the phenomenon by which an innovation transforms an existing market or sector by introducing simplicity, convenience, accessibility, and affordability where complication and high cost have become the status quo—eventually completely redefining the industry. Traditionally non-healthcare companies moving into the industry can significantly disrupt how consumers interact with healthcare and how they receive care. This panel will explore disruptive innovations in healthcare and the impact on the patient-caregiver relationship.
Moderator:
Andrew Dreyfus
President and Chief Executive Officer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Panelists:
Joseph C. Kvedar, MD
Vice President of Connected Health, Partners HealthCare
Jennifer Magaziner
Senior Director of Strategy and Digital Innovation, Boston Children's Hospital
Andrew Shin, JD, MPH
Chief Operating Officer, AHA Center for Health Innovation at American Hospital Association
Break
2:25 pm - 2:40 pm EST
Workshops and Abstracts
This session seeks to unpack the concept of race by exploring how we as individuals, as a society and as healthcare providers define race for ourselves. Through a deeper knowledge of the complexities of this important topic, participants can begin to understand how race impacts the care we provide, patients’ perceptions, experience, and health outcomes.
Speaker:
Juliette Blount, MSN, NP
Adult Nurse Practitioner
Emotional well-being is linked to mind-body practices that elucidate inner strengths and emphasize life-affirming experiences. Individual approaches to emotional well-being that focus on creating positive emotion, engagement, meaning, quality relationships and a sense of accomplishment (PERMA) can ameliorate stress and build resilience in taxing circumstances such as wars, disasters and medical settings. Authentic human connection is one of the most mitigating activities. These connections can be expanded through the study of humanities, the study of how people process and document human experience, by adding perspectives, including both a celebration of human attributes and a concern for human welfare. This workshop will demonstrate methods to foster authentic human connection, facilitate PERMA and enhance self-care.
Speakers:
Carrie Barron, MD
Director of the Creativity for Resilience Program, Dell Medical School
David Ring, MD, PhD
Associate Dean for Comprehensive Care and Professor of Surgery and Psychiatry, Dell Medical School
Stigma is experienced in society, in relationships with family, friends and healthcare providers, and even in one’s own thoughts. It often prevents individuals with substance use disorders (SUDs) from opening up to others about their substance use and related difficulties. Stigma triggers feelings of shame, which can cause individuals with SUDs to engage in “hiding behaviors,” such as lying, avoiding accountability or keeping secrets. These behaviors limit how healthcare providers can support individuals with SUDs and also can lead to provider burnout and dissatisfaction. In this workshop, you will learn simple interpersonal strategies (self-compassion, validation techniques and perspective-taking) that can reduce the effects of stigma and shame and promote healthy, compassionate connections with individuals with SUDs.
Speaker:
Daniel Johnson, PhD
Clinical Psychologist, Director, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Program, Boston Child Study Center
In this workshop, participants will hear insights gleaned from a yearlong study of clinician well-being in primary care sites nationwide, and leave with a set of action-oriented takeaways to try in their own clinics and classrooms that underscore conversation, connection and community.
Speakers:
Dana Hiniker
Programs and Operations Lead, Women Writers in Medicine
Elizabeth Métraux
Founder, Women Writers in Medicine
Nicolas Nguyen, MD, ABFM
Senior Medical Director of Clinician Recruitment, Development, and Experience, Beth Israel Deaconess HealthCare
The MCPHS Schwartz Center Educational Rounds are an interprofessional forum highlighting (and modeling) the importance of compassion and collaboration in healthcare practice. This presentation describes incorporating our Educational Rounds into our health sciences university’s culture, shares the rationale and organizational structure of the Educational Rounds, and summarizes students’ evaluative feedback. As constructed, the Rounds offer a model for successfully integrating holistic patient-centered care into an educational curriculum while enhancing skill development for pre-professional and early professional students.
Speaker:
Rick Shifley, PhD
Assistant Professor, Behavioral & Social Sciences, MCPHS University
The Hillebrand Center for Compassionate Care in Medicine at Notre Dame has for the last seven years developed a training program to apply the science of compassion to improve patient care and improve physician/clinician well-being. One component of this model involves viewing the premedical years as critical to the formation of the compassion mindset in clinical practice. This presentation will describe the training at the premedical level and report the current research on its impact for graduates now in residency and medical school.
Speaker:
Dominic Vachon, MDiv, PhD
Director of the Ruth M. Hillebrand Center for Compassionate Care in Medicine, University of Notre Dame
Physicians often lack the skills and confidence needed for difficult conversations. To address this issue, we developed half-day workshops for pediatric residents using parents of children with life-threatening diagnoses and a team of social workers, nurses and chaplains in role-playing exercises. We will discuss the effectiveness of these sessions and present a guide on developing similar programs at other institutions.
Speaker:
Alexandra Wilson, MD, FAAP
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Dell Medical School at the University of Texas, Austin
Attending Physician, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Dell Children’s Hospital
As academic institutions develop and implement interprofessional education, there is a need for examples of sustainable, humanistic, evidence-based approaches that promote perspective-taking and support students’ ability to make empathetic connections with patients, family members and their fellow learners. In this presentation, the authors will describe their experience in designing, implementing and evaluating a pre-matriculation common reading program for graduate students in the health professions. The results of an IRB approved study exploring the impact of this narrative pedagogy on student development and the delivery of compassionate, patient- and family-centered care will be discussed.
Speaker:
Regina Doherty, OTD, OTR/L, FAOTA, FNAP
Associate Professor, MGH Institute of Health Professions
In the narrative ethics and social psychology literature, researchers have found that life stories often contain basic narrative sequences that can be analyzed and correlated with measures of well-being. In this presentation, participants will hear preliminary results from the Project on the Good Physician in which qualitative data was collected from 21 U.S. medical trainees across multiple medical schools. The findings underline the importance of a life course approach when studying physicians’ well-being and invite physicians-in-training to cultivate a redemptive mindset – learning to narrate “negative events” during their training in such a way that they can identify how such events contributed redemptively to their personal growth.
Speaker:
John Yoon, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Chicago
Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program, Mercy Hospital & Medical Center
Break
3:55 pm - 4:10 pm EST