Monday, October 7, 2013

Hope everyone had a good trip back home.  We had such a wonderful week with everyone and are excited to hear about the many courses that you will put on.  Over the next several weeks we will be posting a variety of resources on the blog.  For now, enjoy some pictures from the week!














Name: Joanne Gould Kuntz, MD

Location: University of Connecticut Health Center

What are you working on currently: Since I am currently an 'N of One" in terms of Palliative Care Clinicians at my institution I am doing my best to build a new consult program an help develop curriculum for all learners across the institution.   In the process I am also learning how to say No and when to say Yes.

 Name something you love about one of your current projects: I love the enthusiasm with which our new consultation service has been received. Having spent the first 20 years of my career in the ED it is very refreshing to have my colleagues be happy to hear from me for a change.




Name: Cassandra Hirsh

Location: Akron Children’s Hospital, Akron, Ohio

What are you working on currently:  Currently I am working on further developing a curriculum for pediatric residents and fellows in multiple disciplines that centers around their delivering bad news in a simulated environment.

Name something you love about one of your current projects:  Working with the residents one on one along with a bereaved parent.  I love that the parents can teach me and the residents something in every session we have together.   I also love to see how quickly the residents can implement new techniques and gain confidence after only one session together.


Name: Anna Roshal
 
Location: Washington University, Division of Medical Oncology St. Louis, MO

What are you working on currently: starting an outpatient Supportive and Palliative Care clinic within our division of Medical Oncology; refining palliative care curriculum for oncology fellows; developing communication skills workshop for Internal Medicine first year residents and oncology fellows; attending on a very busy inpatient medical oncology service.

 Name something you love about one of your current projects: interacting with trainees on different levels and learning from them; being able to slowly change an institutional culture regarding a role of Palliative care in oncology practice and training.



 Name: Christopher Pietras

 Location: Los Angeles, CA

  What are you working on currently: Developing a palliative care rotation for residents and medical students.  Starting a palliative care outpatient clinic.

 Name something you love about one of your current projects: I love teaching students and seeing their reactions to learning communication skills that they never knew existed.

Thursday, September 19, 2013


Thanks for everyone that submitted profiles over the last two weeks!  It is great to have the chance to get a sense for who we will be meeting in Aspen!  We will be doing one more blog post before the conference, so if you want to be featured please provide your info by next Wednesday!  This week, we introduce one more of our instructors, Gordon Wood and several more of our participants: 
 
 Name: Gordon Wood

Location: Chicago, Illinois

What are you working on currently: Collaborating on a project called PREP-CPC that seeks to teach multiple levels of providers across Illinois how to hold goals of care conversations and how to integrate these discussions into healthcare systems; developing a project on team-based communication skills training; serving as associate program director for the Northwestern Palliative Medicine fellowship; growing a relatively young palliative care service and applying for Advanced Certification for Palliative Care from the Joint Commission. 

Name something you love about one of your current projects: The common theme among most of the projects I do is that they give me the opportunity to think about new ideas with the really smart people I am fortunate to have as colleagues and friends.
 
Name:  Sharla Wells-Di Gregorio

Location:  Columbus, Ohio

What are you working on currently:  Analyzing data looking at a model predicting opioid misuse/substance abuse, implementing distress screening across cancer hospital to better meet patients emotional, social, spiritual and physical symptom needs; on-boarding new Psychosocial Oncology Fellow;  revising Communication Curriculum for Hospice & Palliative Medicine Fellows; working through Couch to 5K (now off of the couch, but wondering how to get beyond 6 minutes); practicing yoga and meditation for clarity

Name something you love about one of your current projects:  I love solving problems and finding solutions for challenging clinical problems and the feeling of completing a good run/yoga session/meditation practice.

 Name: Molly Feely

 Location: Mayo Clinic Rochester
 What are you working on currently:  Trying to keep my head above water after assuming the role of palliative fellowship director.  Most of my clinical and research focus is on palliative care of dialysis patients.
 Name something you love about one of your current projects:  I love working with the dialysis population as part of the renal palliative care team.  It feeds my need to practice subspecialty palliative medicine while also allowing me to cultivate longer term relationships with patients that evolve of time – something I had missed from my primary care days.

 
Name: Michael Westley MD FACP, FCCP
Location: Section of Critical Care, Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, Washington

 What are you working on currently: Work to integrate palliative care into critical care, refine Palliative Care curriculum for resident and faculty education, exploring optimism bias, and continue learning to become a better clinician and ecucator.


 Name something you love about one of your current projects: I continue to be fascinated as I participate in the process patients and families use to make choices that make sense to them.  As an ICU clinician I rarely have a longitudinal relationship with the patient or family yet I am most often welcomed into the most private and personal aspects of their lives.  I experience this as both an incredible gift and humbling responsibility. 



Name: Drew Rosielle

Location: Minneapolis, MN
What are you working on currently: Medical Director of the University of Minnesota Medical Center-Fairview Palliative Care Program Program Director of the University of Minnesota Medical School’s HPM Fellowship Editing Fast Facts and Concepts

Name something you love about one of your current projects: 
Watching the slow transformation that happens with most of my fellows as they become colleagues, or near colleagues, by the end of the year. When they start teaching me things: great feeling.

Name: Simon Schrick-Senasac

Location: Chicago, IL

What are you working on currently: Site director for palliative medicine education to internal medicine residents and geriatric fellows, collaborative palliative curriculum standardization across 5 disciplines training with our section, Hospice and Palliative Medicine Certification Boards, and 100+ consult/month inpatient service.

Name something you love about one of your current projects: Looking critically at a curriculum to create and find new ways to deliver content


Name:  Jeanie Youngwerth

 Location:  University of Colorado School of Medicine

  What are you working on currently: Revising Palliative Medicine Fellowship and Medical School curriculum.

  Name something you love about one of your current projects: Learning from the learners!

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

More introductions for this week!  One of our Fellows RenĂ©  and three of our participants - Stephanie, Joshua and Lori.

Remember to submit your profile to Lisa@vitaltalk.org so we can feature you on the blog!


Name: René Claxton

Location: Pittsburgh, PA


What are you working on currently: learning how to be a fellowship director, improving my proficiency in ACGME-ese and mentoring skills.

Name something you love about one of your current projects: I love the opportunity to get to know fellows on an individual level, help them improve their skills and start to prepare for life after fellowship.

Name: Stephanie Harman

Location: Stanford, CA

What are you working on currently: Teaching a communication skills course for interns; Building a faculty development program for our palliative care physicians.

Name something you love about one of your current projects:
The interns are a lively and energetic bunch of young folk, and I love listening to their adventures and their perspectives.

 
Name:  Lori Earnshaw
Location:  Louisville, KY
What are you working on currently:  Potty training my 3-year-old, implementing a new palliative care curriculum for fourth year medical students, revising an arts and wellness course for the fourth year medical students
Name something you love about one of your current projects:  collaborating with members of the local arts community for my wellness course; teaching students from chaplaincy, social work, and nursing, with my colleagues from other disciplines; the prospect of not changing diapers in the near future
 
Name: Joshua Fronk
 
Location: Stanford, CA
 
What are you working on currently: Learning the ropes of being in the attending physician role, expanding our reach in the outpatient palliative medicine clinic, teaching a primary palliative care clerkship to the medical students during their family medicine clerkship.
Name something you love about one of your current projects: Every time I am in clinic, I am reminded about how much I enjoy having continuity with my patients. I wish I had time to write a book about some of our experiences.
 

Monday, August 26, 2013

We wanted to start introducing you to the teachers and colleagues you will be sharing time and knowledge with in Aspen.  First up, a few of the members of our Vital Talk team: Tony, James, Kelly, Holly and Bob will be instructing during the conference and Lisa is helping to make sure your stay in Aspen and conference experience goes smoothly!

We are hoping to do a small profile feature on all participants, so after reading these it would be great if you could fill out your own profile using this same format and send a picture to: Lisa@vitaltalk.org
 
Featured Profiles 8/26:
 
Name: Tony Back
Location: University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
What are you working on currently: Just wrapping up a project exploring new kinds of conversations possible now with patients; trying to disseminate VitalTalk; starting a new project on feedback to clinicians about patient preferences; and another project developing a theory of clinical interactions by studying clinicians with contemplative practices; redesigning a backyard garden to get the right balance of informal and formal; still deep in a Zen practice because it makes me much nicer to be with.
 
Something I love: I'm developing some 'small acts of courage' videos--a terrific challenge. I'm getting married to my partner Ted after 30 years--never thought this would happen! Watching hummingbirds in our weekend garden on Vashon Island. 
 
 
 Name: James Tulsky
Location: Duke University
What are you working on currently:  Creating comprehensive, integrated palliative care across Duke Medicine - from cradle to grave, and home to hospital.  I am also studying an intervention to increase the likelihood that cancer patients get their emotional needs met from their oncology providers, and have just started a new project looking at to what extent patients, doctors and family members make decisions because of what they think the other members of the triad want, rather than knowing what they want.

Name something you love about one of your current projects: I love working with an incredibly diverse interdisciplinary research team - physicians, nurses, chaplains, social scientists, behavioral economists.  In a couple of weeks I'm meeting with a Duke Slavics professor who is also a hospice social worker!  I realize I learn so much more from people unlike me.

 
 
Name: Bob Arnold
Location: Pittsburgh
What are you working on currently: Trying to embed Palliative care into our health care system; Working to develop better train the trainer programs in palliative care communication
Name something you love about one of your current projects: How much I am learning about what it is to be a good teacher - largely from the K-12 literature!
name: Holly Yang

Location: San Diego, California

What are you working on currently:
Masters in Health Professions Education at Massachusetts General Hospital Institute for Health Professions,
Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Director at Scripps Mercy Hospital, teaching medical students, residents, fellows, and international physicians Hospice and Palliative Medicine skills, including communication skills
and multiple projects with the Vitaltalk community.

Name something you love about one of your current projects:
I love the people that I encounter in each of these areas of my professional life… excited, committed professionals, all striving to grow, learn and teach with compassion and joy.


Name: Kelly Edwards
Location: University of Washington, Seattle
What are you working on currently: I am working on several grant-funded projects and educational initiatives within our School of Medicine and School of Public Health, and also within the Graduate School more broadly.  While there are many diverse projects and audiences, a common thread is working with trainees, faculty, and systems to achieve their potential.
Name something you love about one of your current projects:  I love being in conversation with others about ideas that transform our thinking, our systems, and our ways of being.  In my projects I strive for a balance between conceptual work – remembering what's at stake – and moving forward toward action, experimentation,  learning, and growth.  Work that is fun, relational, and action-oriented is the best.    



Name: Lisa Ravenel
Location: Seattle, Wa
What are you working on currently: I am working part time as the project manager for Vital Talk - helping the team to make this great organization grow.  I also work part time on a candle company that I founded 2 years ago. 
Name something you love about one of your current projects: Learning about a world that is completely new to me (doctor patient communication) realizing how important it is and meeting great people along the way.

These are just a few of the faces you will meet through PalliTalk, we look forward to introducing you to more over the next few weeks!

 

Friday, August 16, 2013

Pallitalk updates

Hi PalliTalkers!

We have a few important updates as you make your arrangements for the conference.  Again, if you have any questions not covered here, don't hesitate to ask!

1. Hotel: The original e-mail that went out contained information about booking your own hotel rooms, however this is no longer correct.  We will now be booking a block of hotel rooms on your behalf and assigning rooms.  Bookings will be made for double occupancy rooms.  If you are interested in staying in a single occupancy room you will be responsible for the additional cost of $83.50/night (reply to let us know if you want this option).  We will be paying for hotel for Monday - Thursday night. If you would like to stay for any additional nights please book with the hotel directly.  

2. Payment:   For the remaining tuition balance of $900 you can choose to pay either with credit card through Paypal or by sending a check. If you would like to pay via check please make checks out to Vital Talk.  Checks should be sent to:
Vital Talk
Attn: Tony Back
901 Harvard Ave E
Seattle WA 98102

To pay with credit card, please send an e-mail to Lisa@vitaltalk.org and indicate you would like to pay via credit card.  We will then send you an invoice to make payment through Paypal.

3. Conference dates:  We have fielded a few questions about conference dates.  To clarify, most participants will likely choose to arrive on Monday Sep 30th,  conference materials begin Tuesday October 1st at 8am and run through Thursday night.  Again, we are providing hotel for check-in on Monday check-out Friday.


Thanks,
The PalliTalk Team

Pallitalk Confrence Information

Hello PalliTalkers!

We are busy designing an amazing course for you – drawing on all our experience with Oncotalk, IntensiveTalk, and workshops at AAHPM. We’re returning to Aspen to create a creative thinking space for our work. So while we know it takes a lot to clear your schedule, we also know that getting yourself ready to plunge in to this learning is important—so try to bring as little outside work as possible.
This post contains important logistical information for Pallitalk. Please email us at Lisa@vitaltalk.org if you have any questions not covered here, and we’d be happy to talk on the phone if you have other questions (best to email to arrange an appointment). 
1. Travel to Aspen: All participants are responsible for arranging their own travel to and from the conference (we will provide the hotel with your arrival and departure times).
2. Arrival/Departure:  Please make travel arrangements to insure you will be present to start the conference by 8 am October 1st.  The conference will conclude with dinner on October 3rd
5. Meals: All breakfasts and lunches are included with your registration for the conference, in addition we will be providing dinner on the first and last night. Participants will be free to make their own dinner plans on the 2nd night. 
6. Spouses: The conference is intensive and designed for immersion.  If your spouse wishes to join you in Aspen we recommend they do so on the last day and are welcome to come to the final dinner. 

If you have any logistical questions not answered here don't hesitate to ask. 
Thanks and looking forward to a great week together.
Sincerely,
The Pallitalk team
(Tony, Bob, James, Kelly—and others we’ll introduce soon!)