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Could patients' health be directly affected by their doctors' bedside manner? According to recent studies, it's more than likely. And what's more, according to the founders of Children's Hospital Boston's new Institute for Professionalism and Ethical Practice (IPEP), the quality of clinicians' relationships with patients and families may also substantially impact doctors' own sense of professional integrity
and satisfaction.
In 2002, Robert Truog, MD, and Elaine Meyer, PhD, RN, along with Jeffrey Burns, MD, MPH, interviewed parents of patients who had been in the ICU years after their children's hospitalizations. "What they consistently told us was that they forgot virtually all of the medical details," says Dr. Meyer. "What they remember is the way people spoke to them and treated them. Sometimes they felt reassured or comforted. Other times, they describe bad experiences they can't get out of their minds." To further explore these issues, doctors Truog and Meyer, with the help of David Browning, MSW, BCD, director of the Initiative for Pediatric Palliative Care Education Development Center, Inc., began offering a series of one-day educational workshops called the Program to Enhance Relational and Communication Skills (PERCS). The success of their efforts led, in March 2007, to the establishment of the new institute, with Dr. Truog serving as director, Dr. Meyer as associate director and Browning as senior scholar. Elizabeth Rider, MSW, MD, a pediatrician, recently joined the group as director of faculty development. The institute's efforts are coordinated with existing hospital initiatives to promote effective communication using SBAR (situation, background, assessment and recommendation) and other strategies.// cont.
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