Foundation Day is an annual day long event that for over 30 years has been a premier source of continuing education for providers all across central Illinois - and Carle is the host.
Blair Rowitz, MD and Kayla Banks discuss 2018 Foundation Day, why it is important to clinicians, what keynotes and breakouts will be discussed, and to inspire Carle providers to attend the event.
Selected Podcast
Foundation Day
Featuring:
Dr. Blair Rowitz is a surgeon in Urbana, Illinois and is affiliated with Carle Foundation Hospital.
Learn more about Dr. Blair Rowitz
Kayla Banks | Blair Rowitz, MD
Kayla Banks is the Vice President, Women's Services, Pediatrics and Graduate Medical Education.Dr. Blair Rowitz is a surgeon in Urbana, Illinois and is affiliated with Carle Foundation Hospital.
Learn more about Dr. Blair Rowitz
Transcription:
Melanie Cole (Host): Welcome. Today we are talking about Carle Foundation Day 2018 and my guests are Kayla Banks, she’s the Vice President of Women’s Services, Pediatrics and Graduate Medical Education and a Foundation Day Co-Chair at the Carle Foundation Hospital and Dr. Blair Rowitz, he’s the Associate Chief Medical Officer of Surgical Services and the Foundation Day Co-Chair at Carle Foundation Hospital. Welcome to the show both of you. So, Kayla, I’d like to start with you. Explain a little bit about Foundation Day and what it is and how it came about.
Kayla Banks (Guest): Sure. Well Foundation Day is an annual premier conference held by Carle Foundation Hospital. We have had Foundation Day on an annual basis now for 68 years. So, that is an opportunity for providers really across the region to come together and learn about a different topic every year. And this year’s topic is Embracing Diversity Inclusion, Leveraging Care Teams to Impact Patient Outcomes.
Melanie: And Dr. Rowitz let’s talk a little bit about why this is important to clinicians, what they can get out of it and is this available to providers as Kayla said all over the region; but not necessarily a part of Carle Foundation Hospital?
Blair Rowitz, MD (Guest): Well yeah, it is absolutely. Anyone with an interest is welcome to attend. We’d love to have anybody who thinks that we can help them learn. The importance of it is many fold. Diversity and inclusion in healthcare is really critical to patient outcomes first of all. There’s data that shows that patients are more compliant with their healthcare when diversity inclusion is considered. Their outcomes are better. Their access to healthcare is better. Their satisfaction is higher. And so, learning to integrate a strong diversity inclusion awareness in our healthcare teams is important for patient outcomes. But it’s also important for the hospital systems. Diverse teams tend to be more innovative, better problem solvers; so, it’s really critical for everyone involved in patient care.
Melanie: Kayla expand on that just a little bit if you would. Tell us about some of the keynote speakers and some of the exciting breakouts that will be discussed as far as diversity and even in healthcare communication and inclusion.
Kayla: Sure. We have some really exciting speakers coming to present at the conference. Dr. Harriet Washington is a speaker who presents quite often nationally about various topics related to diversity and healthcare. So, the goal of her presentation is really about talking about culturally competent care and how it relates to our teams in providing that patient centered care and providing a little bit of the history about why some of the cultural and group dynamics have come into place in our healthcare delivery setting. Our second speaker is Dr. Ruby Mendenhall. She’s an Associate Professor of Sociology and African American Studies right here at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and she has a lot to share about providing culturally competent care as well in meeting the needs of our patients, as well as our care teams that we are all a part of. We have breakout sessions talking about different healthcare or different health group topics including mental health, women’s health, to talk about the various aspects and some of the biases that we have as providers in approaching some of these illnesses to provide better insight into the patient’s perspective. We then also have what we are calling social construct sessions where we will be talking about gender bias, some culturally competent care related to race and ethnicity to again try and capture and understand how our personal experiences as providers impacts the care that we give for patients who consider themselves as part of those groups.
Dr. Rowitz: I would also like to add that Dr. Quinn Capers will be speaking at the end of the day and he is a nationally recognized expert in – he’ll be speaking about bias in medical school admission process and that’s obviously very timely with our new college of medicine. So, we are really excited to have him as well.
Melanie: What a very forward-thinking general topic for this year’s Foundation Day. And Dr. Rowitz as a physician tell us what’s meant by cultural competence because we hear as physicians, they have to learn to work with women and they have to learn about the sensitive nature of some women’s health issues, but when we are speaking multiculturally; what does that mean for you physicians?
Dr. Rowitz: Well again, it’s all tied to taking better care of patients. If we understand their cultural needs and their cultural history and their – we are able to provide a more personalized care. So, for example, there may be cultural beliefs about medicine or medical care that if we are not aware of, we can’t address appropriately. There is data that shows there is different cultural approaches to pain that how patients experience pain in order to better identify those things. There’s also building trust with a patient. The more you can be aware of where they are coming from; the better we can care for them.
Melanie: And along this general theme Kayla, why do you want Carle providers, specifically Carle providers to attend this event? Tell us why they will be inspired to be better healthcare providers by learning about diversity in healthcare and communication.
Kayla: Sure, I think it really comes down to empathy for our patients and for our team members and understanding their individual’s perspectives and I think it not only as clinicians, improves the patients in our care that we can provide to our patients and taking a step back and being aware of potentially our own bias, but also of individual situations that may be completely unknown to us and unfamiliar to us and allows us to understand different dynamics and decision making and as part of the team as well.
Dr. Rowitz: And I think I can add a specific example that may help shed some light and that’s on caring for obese patients, which is a big part of my personal practice. When we use terms like morbid obesity or unhealthy weight to patients; they perceive that differently than we may. And using other terms such as talking to patients, I’d like to talk with you about your weight. Patients tend to receive that in a better fashion and again build more trust. Simple things like preparing our waiting rooms, having chairs big enough for patients who are overweight to accommodate them says a lot about our sensitivity to their issue. Weighing them in a private place instead of the middle of the hallway where others can see. Little things like that, patients perceive as very significant issues and being aware again helps us have a more empathy as Kayla mentioned, but also builds more trust.
Melanie: It certainly does. What a wonderful model of care that you are setting with this year’s theme. Kayla first last word to you. Tell other physicians and providers what you would like them to know about Foundation Day 2018 and you can give some specifics, how they can sign up, where they can get more information.
Kayla: Sure. So, we will have online registration open very soon so, stay tuned to click for announcements related to that and through Carle Connect to register online and select breakout sessions that way. I guess I encourage our providers really to make an effort to attend and prioritize this as a critical event in our ability to share some of these great speakers and this information in an approachable way to really expand everyone’s knowledge.
Melanie: Dr. Rowitz now wrap it up for us with what you want providers to think about before attending the event and what you would really like them to take away from it to make them better healthcare providers.
Dr. Rowitz: Well I’d like to come in with questions. We hope that these breakout sessions we plan to make them interactive and generate discussion so come in with ideas and thoughts about not only the issues that you see and raise, that providers see and raise; but how you solve problems because sharing those experiences will go a long way to bring everybody up to speed. And what they take away from it is I think just the awareness of the critical nature of understanding, putting yourself in the shoes of the person sitting across from you in the exam room and then again creating solutions or coming up with solutions to help improve their ability to do that.
Melanie: Thank you both so much for joining us today and letting us know all about Carle Foundation Day 2018, the general theme and why it’s so important for providers to come so that they can become better healthcare providers all around. Thank you again. You’re listening to Expert Insights with The Carle Foundation Hospital. For a listing of Carle providers and to view Carle sponsored educational activities such as Foundation Day 2018 please visit www.carleconnect.com, that’s www.carleconnect.com. We hope the information gained will be applicable to your work and life. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.
Melanie Cole (Host): Welcome. Today we are talking about Carle Foundation Day 2018 and my guests are Kayla Banks, she’s the Vice President of Women’s Services, Pediatrics and Graduate Medical Education and a Foundation Day Co-Chair at the Carle Foundation Hospital and Dr. Blair Rowitz, he’s the Associate Chief Medical Officer of Surgical Services and the Foundation Day Co-Chair at Carle Foundation Hospital. Welcome to the show both of you. So, Kayla, I’d like to start with you. Explain a little bit about Foundation Day and what it is and how it came about.
Kayla Banks (Guest): Sure. Well Foundation Day is an annual premier conference held by Carle Foundation Hospital. We have had Foundation Day on an annual basis now for 68 years. So, that is an opportunity for providers really across the region to come together and learn about a different topic every year. And this year’s topic is Embracing Diversity Inclusion, Leveraging Care Teams to Impact Patient Outcomes.
Melanie: And Dr. Rowitz let’s talk a little bit about why this is important to clinicians, what they can get out of it and is this available to providers as Kayla said all over the region; but not necessarily a part of Carle Foundation Hospital?
Blair Rowitz, MD (Guest): Well yeah, it is absolutely. Anyone with an interest is welcome to attend. We’d love to have anybody who thinks that we can help them learn. The importance of it is many fold. Diversity and inclusion in healthcare is really critical to patient outcomes first of all. There’s data that shows that patients are more compliant with their healthcare when diversity inclusion is considered. Their outcomes are better. Their access to healthcare is better. Their satisfaction is higher. And so, learning to integrate a strong diversity inclusion awareness in our healthcare teams is important for patient outcomes. But it’s also important for the hospital systems. Diverse teams tend to be more innovative, better problem solvers; so, it’s really critical for everyone involved in patient care.
Melanie: Kayla expand on that just a little bit if you would. Tell us about some of the keynote speakers and some of the exciting breakouts that will be discussed as far as diversity and even in healthcare communication and inclusion.
Kayla: Sure. We have some really exciting speakers coming to present at the conference. Dr. Harriet Washington is a speaker who presents quite often nationally about various topics related to diversity and healthcare. So, the goal of her presentation is really about talking about culturally competent care and how it relates to our teams in providing that patient centered care and providing a little bit of the history about why some of the cultural and group dynamics have come into place in our healthcare delivery setting. Our second speaker is Dr. Ruby Mendenhall. She’s an Associate Professor of Sociology and African American Studies right here at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and she has a lot to share about providing culturally competent care as well in meeting the needs of our patients, as well as our care teams that we are all a part of. We have breakout sessions talking about different healthcare or different health group topics including mental health, women’s health, to talk about the various aspects and some of the biases that we have as providers in approaching some of these illnesses to provide better insight into the patient’s perspective. We then also have what we are calling social construct sessions where we will be talking about gender bias, some culturally competent care related to race and ethnicity to again try and capture and understand how our personal experiences as providers impacts the care that we give for patients who consider themselves as part of those groups.
Dr. Rowitz: I would also like to add that Dr. Quinn Capers will be speaking at the end of the day and he is a nationally recognized expert in – he’ll be speaking about bias in medical school admission process and that’s obviously very timely with our new college of medicine. So, we are really excited to have him as well.
Melanie: What a very forward-thinking general topic for this year’s Foundation Day. And Dr. Rowitz as a physician tell us what’s meant by cultural competence because we hear as physicians, they have to learn to work with women and they have to learn about the sensitive nature of some women’s health issues, but when we are speaking multiculturally; what does that mean for you physicians?
Dr. Rowitz: Well again, it’s all tied to taking better care of patients. If we understand their cultural needs and their cultural history and their – we are able to provide a more personalized care. So, for example, there may be cultural beliefs about medicine or medical care that if we are not aware of, we can’t address appropriately. There is data that shows there is different cultural approaches to pain that how patients experience pain in order to better identify those things. There’s also building trust with a patient. The more you can be aware of where they are coming from; the better we can care for them.
Melanie: And along this general theme Kayla, why do you want Carle providers, specifically Carle providers to attend this event? Tell us why they will be inspired to be better healthcare providers by learning about diversity in healthcare and communication.
Kayla: Sure, I think it really comes down to empathy for our patients and for our team members and understanding their individual’s perspectives and I think it not only as clinicians, improves the patients in our care that we can provide to our patients and taking a step back and being aware of potentially our own bias, but also of individual situations that may be completely unknown to us and unfamiliar to us and allows us to understand different dynamics and decision making and as part of the team as well.
Dr. Rowitz: And I think I can add a specific example that may help shed some light and that’s on caring for obese patients, which is a big part of my personal practice. When we use terms like morbid obesity or unhealthy weight to patients; they perceive that differently than we may. And using other terms such as talking to patients, I’d like to talk with you about your weight. Patients tend to receive that in a better fashion and again build more trust. Simple things like preparing our waiting rooms, having chairs big enough for patients who are overweight to accommodate them says a lot about our sensitivity to their issue. Weighing them in a private place instead of the middle of the hallway where others can see. Little things like that, patients perceive as very significant issues and being aware again helps us have a more empathy as Kayla mentioned, but also builds more trust.
Melanie: It certainly does. What a wonderful model of care that you are setting with this year’s theme. Kayla first last word to you. Tell other physicians and providers what you would like them to know about Foundation Day 2018 and you can give some specifics, how they can sign up, where they can get more information.
Kayla: Sure. So, we will have online registration open very soon so, stay tuned to click for announcements related to that and through Carle Connect to register online and select breakout sessions that way. I guess I encourage our providers really to make an effort to attend and prioritize this as a critical event in our ability to share some of these great speakers and this information in an approachable way to really expand everyone’s knowledge.
Melanie: Dr. Rowitz now wrap it up for us with what you want providers to think about before attending the event and what you would really like them to take away from it to make them better healthcare providers.
Dr. Rowitz: Well I’d like to come in with questions. We hope that these breakout sessions we plan to make them interactive and generate discussion so come in with ideas and thoughts about not only the issues that you see and raise, that providers see and raise; but how you solve problems because sharing those experiences will go a long way to bring everybody up to speed. And what they take away from it is I think just the awareness of the critical nature of understanding, putting yourself in the shoes of the person sitting across from you in the exam room and then again creating solutions or coming up with solutions to help improve their ability to do that.
Melanie: Thank you both so much for joining us today and letting us know all about Carle Foundation Day 2018, the general theme and why it’s so important for providers to come so that they can become better healthcare providers all around. Thank you again. You’re listening to Expert Insights with The Carle Foundation Hospital. For a listing of Carle providers and to view Carle sponsored educational activities such as Foundation Day 2018 please visit www.carleconnect.com, that’s www.carleconnect.com. We hope the information gained will be applicable to your work and life. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.