I am back from the 2008 Winter Course at Ghost Ranch in Santa Fe.  Aside from the beautiful high desert, mountain vistas and the warmth of connecting with old and new friends, I am enjoying the fine sense of balance that always comes from participation in groups with wonderful like-minded people.  By like-minded, I mean a shared sense of values.  There's also a delightful energy derived from creative role plays and a special joy from working with our talented young facilitators in training. 

 

Deepest thanks to Calvin Chou and Jenni Levy for directing this outstanding Winter Course.  A host of others contributed hugely, and I will not name them all now, but plan to communicate gratitude individually at a later time.  For now I offer the Academy's and my personal thanks.  A volunteer mission-driven organization is an amazing organism.  The contributions of our members are enormous.  Its worth reflecting on what it takes to nourish such an organization.

 

Shared values clearly bring us together.  Personal relationships keep us together.  Our special values of mutual respect, positive regard, honesty in relationships and over arching commitment to making the relationship with the patient reflect those values account for the passion and dedication that makes a Winter Course like the one at Ghost Ranch possible.

 

In line with these thoughts are the obligations of AACH to its members.  Several were discussed in Santa Fe.  We heard that members want transparency in the organization, they want their voices to be heard, and they wish for appreciation and gratitude for their work in the Academy.  I was reminded again in Santa Fe that we should continually improve our efforts to make all of this come to life for each member of AACH.  The President's letter is an effort at transparency and also includes appreciation.  Faculty meetings and ongoing dialogue represent renewed commitments to hearing the voices of all members.  Suggestions made in Santa Fe that we will take up on the Executive Committee, which is charged with the oversight of the operations of AACH, include expanding the capacity of our website to provide information on the membership, including secured access  to the minutes of the Executive Committee available to members and expressing gratitude and appreciation in letters from the President or other officers of the Academy to those who lead our many courses, Forums and other educational endeavors.  Such gratitude in writing would be a minimal acknowledgement of the enormous work put in by our members, and perhaps would be helpful for their teaching portfolios and promotions in their own institutions. 

 

I know of no other organization whose members so willingly volunteer to take the lead in creating such wonderful activities.  Surely we are motivated by the friendships, shared values and dedication to achieving the mission of our organization.  I look forward to many fruitful conversations and efforts to enhance communication between the leaders of AACH and its now more than 400 members. 

 

With all best wishes, 

Bill Branch, President, AACH      

 

 

Translating Communications Research:

Bench to Bedside to Community

 

2008 AACH Forum

October 17-19, 2008

Madison, Wisconsin

 

 

 

Join us in Jacksonville, Florida, USA, for the 26th Annual Faculty Development Course on May 31 - June 4, 2008

Read on...

Looking for a way to improve skills? Want to build your program in healthcare communication? AACH has the ability to tailor institutional courses for faculty or clinicians and will work collaboratively with you to create a course that fits your needs.

 

Please contact Chris Pallozola, AACH executive director, at chris@AACHonline.org for information about what AACH can offer your organization.

 

AACH

Get Connected with AACH's doc.com: An interactive learning resource for healthcare communication

 

Go to our demonstration Web site where you can sign up for a 15-day free trial.

 

At AACH, we are certain that your efforts to develop learners competence in the core skills of communication and professionalism will better succeed if you/ they subscribe to doc.com: An interactive learning resource for healthcare communication.

 

doc.com module authors, with decades of teaching experience, demonstrate skills on video. The web resource has e-learning interactive features such as hot links to citations, easy movement between more or less text detail, active sidebars that name demonstrated skills, hot links to author commentaries on their interviews and (new feature!) patient commentaries, too. Module assessments provide feedback to learners and their teachers or course directors, including documentation to meet competency requirements. Our 40 modules cover all the communication competencies that a recent Institute of Medicine Report considered essential for physicians.

 

AACH

As the official journal of AACH, Patient Education and Counseling (PEC) is offered to AACH members at a special discount. Subscribe now for 2007 and receive

12 issues (print and online) for $106

 

This represents a discount off the regular rate of $168 Please e-mail Sherry Erker, Member Services Manager, for more information at erker@drakeco.com.

 

Note: AACH members subscribing to PEC can access their journal through ScienceDirect. Information that explains how to complete the registration process and who you should contact if you have problems or questions is posted on AACH's Web site, www.AACHonline.org.

 

To view an online sample copy of PEC

 

2-5 September 2008, Oslo, Norway

 

The 2008 International Conference on Communication in Healthcare is organized by the European Association for Communication in Healthcare in association with: Patient Education and Counseling/Elsevier

www.each-conference.com  

The Institute of Medicine is now accepting nominations for the 23rd annual Gusta v O. Lienhard Award. The award-- a medal and $25,000-- recognizes individuals for outstanding achievement in improving health care services in the United States. Support for the award is provided by an endowment established by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

 

The Gustav O. Lienhard Award honors individuals whose creative or pioneering efforts have appreciably improved personal health services rather than on contributions to the science base of health care. To encourage consideration of the widest possible range of candidates, no eligibility limits are placed on the education and profession of individuals who may be nominated; however, their achievements should be national in scope. (See a complete list of the selection criteria.)

 

To submit a nomination, please use the online nominations form. Online nominations will be accepted through May 5, 2008. The award will be presented at the IOM's Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. on October 13, 2008.

 

To learn more about the Gustav O. Lienhard Award, please visit our website: www.iom.e du/Lienhard.  If you have any questions about the award or nomination process, contact us at Lienhard@nas.edu or 202.334.2177.

 

 

In this welcome addition to the growing field of narrative medicine; physician Loreen Herwaldt uses the illness narratives of two dozen writer-patients to teach listening skills to medical students, residents, physicians, and other health care providers.

 

Herwaldt skillfully pares each narrative down to its most basic elements, rendering them into powerful found poems that she has used successfully in her role as a teacher and in her own practice. Drawing from narratives by writers who are both emerging and well known, including Oliver Sacks, Richard Selzer, and Mary Swander, each poem reveals the experience of illness and treatment from the patient's perspective. Patient Listening includes a detailed general introduction and a how-to guide that will prove invaluable in the classroom and in clinical practice.

 

This book will inspire thoughtfulness in everyone who reads it. It is also designed to foster discussions about all aspects of the patient experience from ethics to stigmatization to health insurance. Patient Listening is not just about bedside manner but also about how health care providers can gain the most from their interactions with patients and in turn offer more appropriate treatments, develop more cooperative and responsive relationships with their patients, and thus become better doctors.

 

http://www.uipress.uiowa.edu/books/2008-spring/herwaldt.htm

 

A Practical Guide to Teaching and Assessing the ACGME Core Competencies

by Elizabeth A. Rider, MSW, MD, Ruth Nawotniak, MS, CTAGME and Gary Smith, EdD (HCPro, Inc., 2007)

 

This book provides research, best practices, models, and tools for teaching and assessing core medical education competencies required by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) for residency programs and adopted by many medical schools, licensing and medical specialty boards in the US and internationally.  An invaluable and practical book that has broad applicability across all levels of medical education, from medical students to residents to practicing physicians. Available from Amazon.com, other booksellers, and the publisher at: http://www.hcmarketplace.com/prod-5156.html

 

A broad group of national organizations has been planning a National Healthcare Decisions Day, April 16, 2008. For more information please visit: http://www.nationalhealthcaredecisionsday.org.

 

 

 

Enhancing the Professional Culture of Schools of Medicine:

Indiana University School of Medicine's Relationship-Centered Care Initiative

Immersion Conference III

Request for Applications

 

April 29 - May 1, 2008

Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN

 

View the Brochure

 

This 1-day faculty development course offers the opportunity to learn about an innovative pedagogy for teaching and enhancing relational capacities and communication skills in physicians, social workers, nurses, and other health care professionals at all levels of professional development. We use the PERCS (Program to Enhance Relational and Communication Skills) model of realistic enactments (with professional actors), collaborative learning, and reflection and feedback. We also discuss and consider how participants might usefully integrate the pedagogy into educational endeavors in their home institutions. The course provides teaching and learning strategies for the interpersonal and communication skills and professionalism competencies required by many regulatory organizations including the ACGME and LCME. The course is a Pre-Course of the Harvard Macy Institute Program for Educators in the Health Professions and was developed by faculty leaders at the Institute for Professionalism and Ethical Practice at Children's Hospital, Boston.

 

Next Course Date:  Saturday, May 17, 2008, 1:00 - 7:30 pm

Upcoming course dates for 2009: Saturday, January 17, 2009 and Saturday, May 16, 2009.

 

Cost and Location: Tuition is $425.  Spaces are limited. The course will be held at Children's Hospital in Boston, MA USA.

 

For the full course announcement, go to:  http://www.harvardmacy.org  and click on the course listing on the left side of your screen.

 

Register online at: http://mycourses.med.harvard.edu/pub_forms.asp?sid=HMS_1508  (or paste it into your browser).

 

For more information, please contact:

Elizabeth Rider, MSW, MD, Course Director: elizabeth_rider@hms.harvard.edu

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

 

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

The Behavioral Science Column of Medical Encounter is devoted to applying behavioral and social science theories, clinical interventions and research findings to medical practice. Familiarity with the range of psychological treatments enhances the physician's ability to provide optimal care, to address psychophysiological symptoms and to refer the patient for specialized mental health care when necessary. The behavioral science literature on transference, personality styles, trauma, and attachment theory can help inform physician-patient interactions, influence patients' ability to cope with illness, influence adherence, and even affect medical outcomes. If you would like to write an article utilizing the behavioral and social sciences to enhance medical practice or education, I welcome your ideas and submissions. Please submit to the Behavioral Science Editor alyce_getler@hms.harvard.edu. Thank you!

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Patient Education and Counseling seeks reviewers of papers submitted to the journal for potential publication. If you are interested in becoming a reviewer for this journal on topics related to the study of healthcare communications, please log on to the Elsevier Web site, http://ees.elsevier.com/pec to sign up and e-mail the subjects you'd like to review to Dr. Larry Wissow, Editor, Patient Education and Counseling, at Lwissow@jhsph.edu

 

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