The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare recently announced the launch of two comprehensive educational offerings informed by the Compassionate, Collaborative Care—“The Triple C”—Framework, a new interdisciplinary model focused on improving quality and outcomes.
We’re in the midst of an epidemic of health-care professional burnout. Fortunately, we know that compassion and collaboration is an antidote to isolation and burnout.— Beth Lown, MD
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The new educational programs to support the Triple C framework include a “Compassion in Action” monthly webinar series and an interprofessional continuing education course—Compassion in Practice: Achieving Better Outcomes by Maximizing Communication, Relationships, and Resilience—which will take place in Boston, Massachusetts on October 28–29, 2016. The webinar series and continuing education course will be taught by internationally renowned faculty, including Schwartz Center Medical Director Beth Lown, MD.
The programs will address the growing emphasis on relationship-based care, which is not routinely taught, modeled, and assessed in health-care settings. They will provide health-care professionals with strategies and skills to improve their ability to experience and offer compassionate care in ways that matter to patients, families, and professionals.
Recent Articles Focus on Educational Programs
These new educational programs are supported by two recent articles published in medical journals by Dr. Lown and colleagues. A study published in Academic Medicine1 describes how the Triple C framework can help health-care professionals strengthen their communication skills; enhance the work culture; improve patient outcomes; and engage patients, families, and colleagues more successfully. A second paper in Medical Education2 leverages the latest research in neuroscience to identify how education could be aligned with changes in clinical practice to sustain compassionate care and act as an antidote to clinician burnout.
Julie Rosen
“We’re in the midst of an epidemic of health-care professional burnout,” said Dr. Lown, Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Medical Director of the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare. “Fortunately, we know that compassion and collaboration is an antidote to isolation and burnout. We also know that initiatives based on the Triple C framework can help sustain compassion through collaboration to improve the quality of care, achieve better health outcomes, and revitalize professional satisfaction.”
“The Triple C framework comes at a time when health care is rapidly changing. At this inflection point for the health-care system, we are thrilled to formalize an innovative educational program with essential skills that put compassion and collaboration into practice in such a way that quality of care is improved and health-care professionals’ well-being is enhanced,” said Julie Rosen, Executive Director of the Schwartz Center.
In addition to the educational offerings around the Triple C framework, the Schwartz Center is planning to launch a set of initiatives with a diverse group of stakeholders, representing a major investment in the areas of compassionate-care measurement, quality improvement, and research.
Learn more and register for the year-long Compassion in Action webinar series at theschwartzcenter.org/compassioninaction and the Compassion in Practice continuing education course at theschwartzcenter.org/compassioninpractice. ■
References
1. Lown BA, McIntosh S, Gaines ME, et al: Integrating compassionate, collaborative care (the “Triple C”) into health professional education to advance the triple aim of health care. Acad Med 3:310-316, 2016.
2. Lown BA: A social neuroscience-informed model for teaching and practising compassion in health care. Med Educ 3:332-342, 2016.
