Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Building the Future of Healthcare: Insights from Dr. Susan Moffatt-Bruce, MD, PhD on Lahey Hospital’s New Medical School Campus

Transcript

Building the Future of Healthcare: Insights from Dr. Susan Moffatt-Bruce, MD, PhD on Lahey Hospital’s New Medical School Campus · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

• 0:00
  Imagine this. You're at the Hyatt Regency Chicago
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• 1:14
  Welcome to the Becker's Healthcare podcast. My name
• 1:17
  is Paige Twenter. I'm an assistant editor here
• 1:20
  at Becker's Healthcare.
• 1:21
  I'm thrilled today to be interviewing doctor Moffat
• 1:24
  Bruce.
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  Thank you so much for joining me. Before
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  we dive in, I'd like I'd love to
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  have her introduce herself and tell us about
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  her background.
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  That's great. Well, thank you very much for
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  the opportunity to be here today.
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  So I am Susan Moffett Bruce. I am
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  the president
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  of Leahy Hospital and Medical Center.
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  I have been, at Leahy for,
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  about 16 months.
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  I am a cardiothoracic surgeon by training and
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  trade,
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  and I have been probably in health care
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  and leadership roles in health care for about
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  25 years.
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  I'm fairly new to the New England,
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  area. I came from Ottawa, Canada,
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  where I was the CEO of the Royal
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  College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
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  And prior to that, I was at The
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  Ohio State University,
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  in progressive
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  leadership roles, including,
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  the inaugural chief quality officer
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  for the, integrated health care system there. So
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  absolutely delighted to now be here at Leahy
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  and, have had an absolutely
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  fantastic
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  16 months, thus far here in New England.
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  Great. Great. I'm sure it was a big
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  jump from
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  Canada to New England. Hopefully, it's
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  going well, the transition.
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  Yeah. At
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  your hospital,
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  what would you say is the most successful
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  project or initiative from the past year?
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  So thank you for that question, and and
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  we've had, you know, a very busy year.
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  We serve more than, you know, a 1000000
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  patients per year inclusive of inpatient and outpatient
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  care.
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  But I think the,
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  initiative that really comes to mind is that
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  of
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  establishing
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  and soon to welcome our welcome our first
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  medical student
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  to the UMass
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  Chan Leahy,
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  Regional Medical School.
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  More than 2 years ago our dean,
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  Dean Anne Rosenthal,
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  was able to work and be successful in
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  really striking a terrific,
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  successful
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  in really
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  striking a terrific,
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  collaboration with UMass,
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  CHAN,
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  Chancellor Collins, Dean Flott
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  came together and we are going to be
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  in becoming a medical school in less than
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  2 weeks.
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  Really exciting to introduce 32
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  new medical students to really the next generation
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  of health care providers,
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  and they will be trained here at Leidy.
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  I'm sure you're,
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  busy, busy in the next 2 weeks. What
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  is still left to do,
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  before
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  the med school launches?
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  That's an excellent question. You know, it's almost
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  a year in the making to actually have
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  medical
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  students apply and then interview and then rank
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  and and have them and and us, you
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  know, mutually agree upon the medical students.
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  What we have left right now is, kind
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  of,
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  kind of the finishing touches.
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  So,
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  physically, you know, just making sure that they
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  have computers that they can work at,
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  that they are welcome to our campus.
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  We're looking at, you know, welcoming them some
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  of them to Burlington for the first time.
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  I I mean, it really is going to
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  be just kind of the last last touches
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  so that they feel truly that they're being
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  welcomed into a very,
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  innovative and new learning health system here at
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  Leahy.
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  When they arrive on August 12th, they will
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  share their time between Burlington
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  and Worcester, where obviously UMass Chan is,
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  and we're very excited that we'll really have,
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  you know, integrated medical students across 2 very
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  distinct campuses
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  and leverage the clinical expertise here at Leahy,
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  so that they're learning from our expert clinicians,
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  nurses, and staff.
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  You mentioned some of these students are coming
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  to Burlington for their first time. Are there
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  any
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  learnings or,
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  kind of lessons that you've learned in the
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  past 16 months from your transition, you know,
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  for the first time in New England coming
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  from Canada
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  that you're implementing,
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  for their transitions?
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  Yeah. I think some of the things that
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  we're trying to do to help really improve,
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  their experience and try to take down some
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  of the barriers, looking at ways that we
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  can help
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  to find housing for them.
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  Obviously, in New England, that's always a bit
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  of a challenge, but we're looking at ways
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  to help facilitate that.
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  Transportation,
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  making sure that they're able to come to
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  class, that they're able to come to their
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  clinical rotation.
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  And then, I think, just also, creating
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  venues and opportunities
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  for
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  this,
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  group of medical students
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  to really have meaningful
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  social and professional,
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  events with the UMass Chan Worcester medical students
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  as well, and there's over 200 of them,
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  per year. So really trying to create community
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  so that we can welcome them,
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  to the to the area and so that
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  they feel as if, you know, this is
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  going to become their new home for the
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  next 4 years and that it's going to
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  be one that's very welcoming.
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  Going back,
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  to the past a little bit, can you
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  take me through what prompted the idea for
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  this project and what all the hospital had
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  to do and leaders had to do to
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  make it come alive.
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  Yes. That's an excellent question.
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  So Leahy, you know, is now
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  101 years old,
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  created
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  in 1923 by Doctor. Frank Lahey, a surgeon
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  and really a visionary relative
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  to patient care,
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  has accepted and has been
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  very privileged to take to have met multiple
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  medical students
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  learn within our
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  bricks and mortars and in our clinic.
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  However, we've never had an official
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  medical school designation.
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  So the first thing that we had to
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  do was kind of look at our history
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  over the last many decades of taking care
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  of being able to train medical students and
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  say, you know what's going well?
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  What do the medical students enjoy?
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  How do we leverage that,
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  and how do we go forward in a
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  more formalized
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  way with a,
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  established medical school? So we actually put out
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  an RFP.
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  That RFP was fairly competitive,
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  and then we were able to work with,
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  in this instance, UMASS
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  to look at how do we develop a
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  collaboration
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  so that the medical students
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  will feel truly as if they're getting the,
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  you know, the top quality medical education.
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  We needed to make sure that they were
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  given
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  every opportunity to learn from our expert clinicians.
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  And then how do we leverage the innovation
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  and all of the excellence at UMass Chan
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  and bring that to Leahy.
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  So it was an idea that was created
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  based on years of teaching medical students
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  and wanting to be more formalized
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  and truly recognized as a medical school.
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  To that end, the final step was actually
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  getting accreditation,
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  standards bestowed upon us so that we do
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  meet the standard of,
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  medical school and medical education
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  so that the med the students can be
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  assured that they will get a high quality,
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  care sorry. High quality education
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  here at,
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  Lehigh.
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  And in the context
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  of physician workforce and projected shortages in the
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  next few years,
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  what does this medical school mean specifically for
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  you and your,
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  hospital? So, that's a very
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  specific reality that we have right now is
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  around how do we think to the future
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  to really train and educate
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  the next generation of healthcare providers
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  and how do we serve the communities
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  around us. It is our anticipation,
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  and really our mission
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  to be able to train the next generation
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  and continuous
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  generations of health care providers that will serve
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  the community here in New England.
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  And so I do think that it's going
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  to help address some of the inequity that
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  exist
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  relative to access and availability
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  of services
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  for patients,
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  particularly in the primary care,
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  arena.
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  We know that,
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  as we are community based, we have every
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  opportunity to train
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  community based,
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  providers who could be in in many instances
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  primary care physicians.
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  And so I see this as really an
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  opportunity,
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  to contribute
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  and to address some of the workforce issues
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  and really be proactive
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  around developing a sustainable workforce for the future.
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  I'm wondering, other than building a more sustainable
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  workforce, how else
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  are you all planning to, measure the success
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  of this medical school and its first class
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  of graduates 4 years later?
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  The success for us will be that we
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  continue to have,
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  very interested students that want to come here
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  to learn.
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  We will measure, obviously, and get feedback from
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  the medical students themselves, what's going well, what's
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  not going well, how can we improve.
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  We'll also be engaging with our faculty and
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  our clinicians that are teaching the medical students
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  to make sure that they are having an
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  excellent experience,
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  and how we might continue to develop
• 11:35
  and support their learning as educators.
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  And so success for us will be that
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  we are able to really,
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  meet the needs of our faculty as educators,
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  and continue their own faculty as educators, and
• 11:47
  continue their own professional development, which will be,
• 11:49
  you know, a truly concerted effort. But in,
• 11:51
  you know, 2,
• 11:53
  3, 4
• 11:55
  years, success will look like, you know, having
• 11:58
  additional
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  medical students. We may even grow the class,
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  that we have faculty that are very satisfied
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  and engaged in the learning process,
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  and we have our 1st graduates
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  that become community based and serve,
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  the patients within,
• 12:17
  our area here,
• 12:19
  in New England.
• 12:22
  I'm also wondering,
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  over the past 12 months,
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  what do you think has been the biggest
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  obstacle
• 12:30
  you and your team have had to overcome
• 12:32
  while creating this school?
• 12:35
  Mhmm.
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  So, I think there's been many, challenges, many
• 12:39
  headwinds that I think in general health care
• 12:41
  has been facing.
• 12:42
  I think specifically
• 12:57
  And practitioners, and the PAs,
• 12:59
  as well as our nurses and staff,
• 13:01
  you know, we're still stabilizing
• 13:04
  from the pandemic.
• 13:05
  And so I think that has been an
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  ongoing challenge,
• 13:09
  and the reality that we
• 13:15
  pipeline
• 13:16
  programs
• 13:18
  and connecting into community colleges
• 13:20
  and others.
• 13:21
  I also think that the reality is that,
• 13:25
  you know, the cost of health care,
• 13:27
  is one that we face every day.
• 13:30
  And so, as we go forward, we're always
• 13:33
  thinking about how to be more efficient, how
• 13:35
  to be thoughtful with the resources
• 13:37
  that are pretty scarce in health care,
• 13:41
  and so that we can provide really safe
• 13:43
  care for patients and excellent experience for our
• 13:45
  providers.
• 13:47
  That is an ongoing challenge and one that
• 13:50
  I don't think is going to be
• 13:53
  relieved,
• 13:54
  or,
• 13:55
  easily addressed in the short term.
• 13:58
  My last question, since we're coming up on
• 14:01
  time, is regarding the, physician workforce issues
• 14:06
  or,
• 14:07
  even just building a medical school in response?
• 14:10
  What would be your number one recommendation
• 14:12
  or takeaway based on the conversation we've had
• 14:15
  today for our listeners?
• 14:18
  You know, I think that,
• 14:20
  having now been in healthcare for many decades
• 14:23
  and having faced different challenges,
• 14:26
  I think that what we are able to
• 14:27
  do and have impact on relative to being
• 14:27
  a physician or a healthcare provider, is that
• 14:39
  noble and I think very,
• 14:41
  important
• 14:42
  role in our community.
• 14:44
  My advice would be to stick with it
• 14:46
  for those that are within the healthcare domain
• 14:49
  and the providers
• 14:50
  and that through our sheer,
• 14:54
  perseverance,
• 14:56
  insight, and even innovation
• 14:58
  that we will continue to really provide a
• 15:01
  sustainable
• 15:03
  and hopefully equitable,
• 15:05
  healthcare environment.
• 15:06
  And so, there is a need for perseverance.
• 15:09
  There is a need for patients. And I
• 15:11
  do think that I would,
• 15:13
  in every instance,
• 15:15
  recommend
• 15:16
  that healthcare truly is a terrific place to
• 15:19
  work and grow and learn.
• 15:22
  And we need to have patience
• 15:24
  and some perseverance.
• 15:27
  And I'll definitely take, perseverance for those last
• 15:30
  few, finishing touches next 2 weeks, and I'm
• 15:33
  really, you know, excited to see,
• 15:36
  what happens with the medical school and all
• 15:39
  the great successes they'll come through.
• 15:41
  We are at time. Thank you so much
• 15:44
  for letting me meet today, doctor, Moffat Bruce.
• 15:48
  If you wanna hear more,
• 15:50
  from from doctor Moffat Bruce about this project
• 15:54
  and other priorities. She is speaking at our
• 15:56
  upcoming clinical leadership forum at the Becker's CEO
• 16:00
  and CFO roundtable, which is taking place November
• 16:03
  11th through 14th,
• 16:04
  Chicago. We have limited space available
• 16:07
  for attendees and sponsors. So if you're listening
• 16:09
  today, contact us to learn more. And I
• 16:12
  just wanna say thank you again, doctor Mafa
• 16:13
  Bruce, for your time.
• 16:16
  You're very welcome. Thank you for the opportunity.