Caring Greatly™ Podcast

In this episode, Dr. Woodruff talks about the central role that trust plays in supporting team member safety and well-being. While trust is not an unusual concept in leadership, Dr. Woodruff takes an expansive view, connecting it to every process that an individual interacts with within a system. He believes that any process that isn't explicitly designed to build trust - by showing respect and integrity - has the potential to erode trust, and that those small, daily interactions carry more collective weight than a single, positive, in-person encounter. He and his team use two questions to filter the trust factor on organizational processes: Does it support the mission? And, is it kind? The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Vocera, now part of Stryker.

Drs. Farley and Shah spearheaded a collaboration with leaders from the AMA, AHA, CEO Coalition, Dr. Lorna Breen Foundation, IHI, and National Academy of Medicine (NAM) to create the 2022 Healthcare Workforce Rescue Package. The package was devised to help leaders zero in on the most impactful team member well-being efforts to undertake at the current stage of the pandemic. In this episode, we delve into each of the five practices outlined in the Rescue Package and look ahead to how these create a foundation for a transformed culture of well-being for all healthcare team members.

In this episode, Dr. Sherman discusses the transformative changes that are happening in the healthcare workforce, led by three critical trends: COVID-related turnover and travel; mental health challenges, and PTSD, and the shifting demographics of the workplace. She also talks about how these trends are causing dramatic shifts in the structure of healthcare work and challenging leaders to find the flexibility and creativity to rethink how healthcare is delivered. Finally, Dr. Sherman looks ahead to a future in which team member wellbeing is the center of a vibrant healthcare workforce.

In this episode, Dr. DeRienzo discusses his new orientation to the “why” behind care transformation. Like most quality improvement leaders, his focus has long been on the triple aim of improved care quality, reduced cost, and improved experience. But the work Dr. DeRienzo is focused on now is creating energy and opportunity for a greater focus on health equity, necessary variability, and humanity. Care transformation, then, becomes less about productivity and standardization as a primary aim, and more about allowing clinicians to practice at the top of their humanity and their license in a way that is fulfilling and meaningful – which is also very likely to boost productivity and practice resilience over the long run.

In this episode, Dr. Mate talks about research IHI recently completed into a broadened definition of team member safety and wellbeing put forth by the CEO Coalition, a group of US-based healthcare CEOs who see team member safety and wellbeing as an essential component of healthcare efficacy and sustainability. The CEO Coalition’s Heart of Safety Declaration of Principles expands the definition of safety to include protecting psychological and emotional wellbeing, promoting health justice by declaring equity and anti-racism core components of safety, and ensuring physical safety, which includes a zero-harm program to eliminate workplace violence, both physical and verbal. Dr. Mate shares what he and his team learned through the research process and how improvement science is critical to advancing safety and wellbeing. He also shares a long-term vision for healthcare in which the traditional locations and relationships of care expand, requiring a renewed focus on adaptive leadership competencies.

In this episode, Dr. Rizzo talks about the impetus behind creating the Encore Physicians Program, and the benefit it brings to retired physicians, community health centers, and the patients they serve. He looks at the synergy and learning opportunities provided by linking both primary care and specialty physicians to the patients who seek care at community health centers, as well as the role of an intermediary such as Encore Physicians in creating connections between clinics and retired physicians. Finally, Dr. Rizzo shares his perspective on things to consider for leaders looking to set up similar programs in other parts of the country.

In this episode, Dr. Cziraky talks about her personal and practice transformation through a shift from transactional to relationship-based care, both with her team members and her patients. She also talks about how a drive toward efficiency had left her feeling depleted and disconnected from her work. In early 2020, Dr. Cziraky was introduced to the work of the Institute for Healthcare Excellence through the National Taskforce for Humanity in Healthcare, which helped her embrace positive emotions and a more relational model of work and care, which complemented and completed her drive for sustainable and effective care practice. Dr. Cziraky shares the impact of this transition on her work, her life, and her team’s ability to weather the challenges of COVID-19.

n this episode, Dr. Solomon and I discuss the impact of poor practice design on the mental health and well-being of nurses. We delve into the specific trauma of the pandemic, and the need for system-level support and changes to overcome the “tyranny of individual responsibility” that is too often attached to mental well-being. We look at the need to include nurses in system decision processes and for leaders to listen with an open mind to nurses’ demands for system change – including the need to mark loss and make space for grieving. Finally, Dr. Solomon paints a future vision in which nurses are treated as full partners in a system that prioritizes prevention and well-being for patients and team members alike.

In this episode, Dr. Pettit and I talk about how advances in cancer treatment have increased survivorship, but also resulted in patients living long enough to experience the long-term side effects of both primary and adjuvant therapies. Often these impact survivors’ physical, emotional, and even financial and social well-being. Dr. Pettit and her team conduct and support research and innovation that bridge the interests and inputs of patients, life sciences firms, academic medicine, clinicians, and public health toward a future of survivorship that supports all aspects of patients’ health, well-being, and thriving.

In this episode, Dr. Ideker and I dig deep into her team’s work on EHR optimization to ensure that the EHR works for clinicians and not the other way around. In 2020, after rapidly standing up telehealth infrastructure in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Ideker and her team identified four key areas of focus for EHR improvement: orders redesign, documentation, best practice and medication alerts, and Epic proficiency. In each of these areas, she and her team designed solutions using a data-driven approach, in partnership with clinicians, and always with the aim of making the technology effective, efficient, and even delightful.