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Fall 2023 | VOLUME 104, NUMBER 4

Palliative Care and Hospice: How Can We Overcome Barriers to Their Use?
MICHAEL CONNELLY

When treating older adults in the U.S., especially those nearing end-of-life, palliative and hospice care are some of the best options available — yet they remain underused.

Caring for the Transgender Patient: Lessons for Pastoral and Spiritual Care
FR. CHARLES E. BOUCHARD, OP, STD, and JAMEZ TERRY, MDiv, BCC

Gender has received a great deal of attention in the past 10 years. Hardly a day goes by that there is not a media report on the clinical, legal and ethical aspects of the transgender experience. All of these come together — or not — in the political blender where, on one hand, trans people are used as an icon of individual civil rights, or, on the other hand, as an example of moral and spiritual decline.

You Can Feel the Magic: Neurodivergent People Explore Creative Potential at SSM Health Studio
JEREMY CHAPMAN, MD, and MEG PUDDY, MA, BCBA

Each day, as we walk into work at SSM Health Treffert Studios in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, we can almost reach out and grab the energy in the room. Treffert Studios was designed with a mission to help neurodivergent individuals find their passion and express their talents, giving them a voice and tools to share their strengths with the world.


Listening to Patients to Improve Health Care Experiences
ELIZABETH GARONE

Hospitals and medical facilities place a strong emphasis on not just medical care, but the whole patient experience around it — including before, during and after a hospital stay — and always look for innovative ways to improve it. This is especially so after the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to high patient dissatisfaction due to staffing shortages, cutbacks and other circumstances.

Double-Duty Caregiving: Clinicians Caring for Others at Work and Home Need Support
DEBRA KELSEY-DAVIS, RN, MHSA

"I'm doing the best I can," has become the exhausted refrain of health care workers who find themselves pulling "double-duty," caring for patients at work and then rushing home to care for a loved one. The stress and toll on their physical and mental health is staggering. But it does not stop there. As you might imagine, struggling to juggle work-life caregiving directly impacts virtually every aspect of their lives — the people they care for, their jobs, their peers and the many relationships they value. This growing number of people caregiving around the clock presents unique challenges to health systems and new opportunities to innovate.

A Vision for Hope in Catholic Health Care
JOHNNY COX, PhD, BSN

Three generations of ministry leaders have been engaged in a struggle to retain the soul of Catholic health care, and the intensity is greater now than ever. They have endured this struggle since the rise of the for-profit health care services sector in the early 1980s, when then-Editor-in-Chief of The New England Journal of Medicine Dr. Arnold S. Relman named and proclaimed the new medical-industrial complex as the most important health care development of the time. He described it as "a large and growing network of private corporations engaged in the business of supplying health-care services to patients for a profit — services heretofore provided by nonprofit institutions or individual practitioners."

Effective Communication Plays a Key Role in Patient Satisfaction
JOSÉ DOMINGOS

In today's dynamic health care landscape, effective communication is pivotal to ensuring patient satisfaction and fostering positive care outcomes. From my perspective and experience leading an accreditation organization with programs for a wide range of health care settings, I see firsthand the impact of successful communication within and across care teams and between providers and patients. Proactive recognition and prioritization of good communication skills improve patient satisfaction in tandem with more consistent achievement of desired health outcomes.

Why Is It So Hard to Do the Right Things in Health Care?
SR. ROSEMARY DONLEY, SC, PhD, APRN, FAAN

Why is the American health care system so difficult to navigate? People identify difficulties in access, cost and quality as the main issues they encounter when seeking medical assessment and treatment.1 Access refers to the person being examined by the right provider, and in the right setting, for their presenting symptoms and given the correct diagnosis, tests and treatment.2 Cost means that the appropriate treatment and care is paid for by the patient, insurance companies and/or the government. Quality is outcome-oriented and includes more than satisfaction with the provider, setting and treatment. Today, quality of care means that the treatment produces a good or improved outcome, ideally better health.

How 'Recognize and Rescue' Approach Leads to Lifesaving Outcomes
MOHAMAD FAKIH, MD, MPH, and  RICHARD FOGEL, MD, FACC, FHRS

When people first arrive at one of our hospitals, many may be experiencing some of the worst, most vulnerable times of their lives — or the life of a loved one. They may feel anxious and afraid of what might happen next. They put their lives in our hands, trusting in the safe, quality care they will receive. They also often come with a set of unspoken expectations: please keep me safe; help me navigate my care; provide me with the right care; give me tools to help me stay well; and treat me with respect. For years, the "safe, timely, effective, efficient, equitable and patient-centered" (STEEEP) model, developed by the Institute of Medicine,1 has provided a clear and actionable framework to help Ascension manage overall quality and safety initiatives. Each element of the STEEEP framework has multiple metrics that we report and track over time.

  • Listening to Patients to Improve Health Care Experiences
    ELIZABETH GARONE

    Hospitals and medical facilities place a strong emphasis on not just medical care, but the whole patient experience around it — including before, during and after a hospital stay — and always look for innovative ways to improve it. This is especially so after the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to high patient dissatisfaction due to staffing shortages, cutbacks and other circumstances.

  • Double-Duty Caregiving: Clinicians Caring for Others at Work and Home Need Support
    DEBRA KELSEY-DAVIS, RN, MHSA

    "I'm doing the best I can," has become the exhausted refrain of health care workers who find themselves pulling "double-duty," caring for patients at work and then rushing home to care for a loved one. The stress and toll on their physical and mental health is staggering. But it does not stop there. As you might imagine, struggling to juggle work-life caregiving directly impacts virtually every aspect of their lives — the people they care for, their jobs, their peers and the many relationships they value. This growing number of people caregiving around the clock presents unique challenges to health systems and new opportunities to innovate.

  • A Vision for Hope in Catholic Health Care
    JOHNNY COX, PhD, BSN

    Three generations of ministry leaders have been engaged in a struggle to retain the soul of Catholic health care, and the intensity is greater now than ever. They have endured this struggle since the rise of the for-profit health care services sector in the early 1980s, when then-Editor-in-Chief of The New England Journal of Medicine Dr. Arnold S. Relman named and proclaimed the new medical-industrial complex as the most important health care development of the time. He described it as "a large and growing network of private corporations engaged in the business of supplying health-care services to patients for a profit — services heretofore provided by nonprofit institutions or individual practitioners."

  • Palliative Care and Hospice: How Can We Overcome Barriers to Their Use?
    MICHAEL CONNELLY

    When treating older adults in the U.S., especially those nearing end-of-life, palliative and hospice care are some of the best options available — yet they remain underused.

  • Caring for the Transgender Patient: Lessons for Pastoral and Spiritual Care
    FR. CHARLES E. BOUCHARD, OP, STD, and JAMEZ TERRY, MDiv, BCC

    Gender has received a great deal of attention in the past 10 years. Hardly a day goes by that there is not a media report on the clinical, legal and ethical aspects of the transgender experience. All of these come together — or not — in the political blender where, on one hand, trans people are used as an icon of individual civil rights, or, on the other hand, as an example of moral and spiritual decline.

  • You Can Feel the Magic: Neurodivergent People Explore Creative Potential at SSM Health Studio
    JEREMY CHAPMAN, MD, and MEG PUDDY, MA, BCBA

    Each day, as we walk into work at SSM Health Treffert Studios in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, we can almost reach out and grab the energy in the room. Treffert Studios was designed with a mission to help neurodivergent individuals find their passion and express their talents, giving them a voice and tools to share their strengths with the world.

  • Effective Communication Plays a Key Role in Patient Satisfaction
    JOSÉ DOMINGOS

    In today's dynamic health care landscape, effective communication is pivotal to ensuring patient satisfaction and fostering positive care outcomes. From my perspective and experience leading an accreditation organization with programs for a wide range of health care settings, I see firsthand the impact of successful communication within and across care teams and between providers and patients. Proactive recognition and prioritization of good communication skills improve patient satisfaction in tandem with more consistent achievement of desired health outcomes.

  • Why Is It So Hard to Do the Right Things in Health Care?
    SR. ROSEMARY DONLEY, SC, PhD, APRN, FAAN

    Why is the American health care system so difficult to navigate? People identify difficulties in access, cost and quality as the main issues they encounter when seeking medical assessment and treatment.1 Access refers to the person being examined by the right provider, and in the right setting, for their presenting symptoms and given the correct diagnosis, tests and treatment.2 Cost means that the appropriate treatment and care is paid for by the patient, insurance companies and/or the government. Quality is outcome-oriented and includes more than satisfaction with the provider, setting and treatment. Today, quality of care means that the treatment produces a good or improved outcome, ideally better health.

  • How 'Recognize and Rescue' Approach Leads to Lifesaving Outcomes
    MOHAMAD FAKIH, MD, MPH, and  RICHARD FOGEL, MD, FACC, FHRS

    When people first arrive at one of our hospitals, many may be experiencing some of the worst, most vulnerable times of their lives — or the life of a loved one. They may feel anxious and afraid of what might happen next. They put their lives in our hands, trusting in the safe, quality care they will receive. They also often come with a set of unspoken expectations: please keep me safe; help me navigate my care; provide me with the right care; give me tools to help me stay well; and treat me with respect. For years, the "safe, timely, effective, efficient, equitable and patient-centered" (STEEEP) model, developed by the Institute of Medicine,1 has provided a clear and actionable framework to help Ascension manage overall quality and safety initiatives. Each element of the STEEEP framework has multiple metrics that we report and track over time.



FEATURES

The creators of Radiance, a virtual reality program, initially designed it as a mixed media art piece and displayed it in a Savannah, Georgia, museum.1 Users put on a headset and joined a digital world that featured an immersive light field that showered them with a swarm of glowing particles, all set to music.

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