Latest / Becker’s Healthcare -- Pediatric Leadership Podcast / Dr. Robert Root, Pediatrician & Associate Chief Medical Officer at Michigan State University Health Care

Transcript

Dr. Robert Root, Pediatrician & Associate Chief Medical Officer at Michigan State University Health Care · Becker’s Healthcare -- Pediatric Leadership Podcast

• 0:00
  This is Chris Sosa with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
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  I'm pleased today to be joined by Dr. Robert Root,
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  associate Chief Medical Officer of Michigan State University Healthcare. Dr.
• 0:08
  Root, thank you for joining us today.
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  Thanks for having me.
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  Can you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your background?
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  Sure. While I'm a pediatrician by training,
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  went to medical school at Michigan State University College of Osteopathic
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  Medicine,
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  and I did my residency training through msu EW
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  Sparrow Hospitals pediatric residency program.
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  Practiced a general pediatrician since graduation, and, uh,
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  and over the last three years, uh,
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  been serving as the Associate Chief Medical Officer for MSU Healthcare. And, uh,
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  in that role, wear a variety of hats,
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  but engaged in various aspects of patient access to care,
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  quality peer review among other duties.
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  Uh, what are the biggest issues you're following in healthcare in 2023?
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  Yeah, I think we're coming off the heels of the,
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  the COVID 19 pandemic, and particularly in pediatrics. We're,
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  we're also in the midst of the viral respiratory infection
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  surge that we've seen through the fall and the winter. And I, I think,
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  I think that's really highlighted access to care issues and a need to continue
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  to evolve our care models to best meet those needs, uh,
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  for our patients and our communities that we serve.
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  I think that's one of the biggest things I see in, in 2023 going forward.
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  That's gonna be a big, big important thing to tackle. I think that's,
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  that's created more strain on our healthcare systems. Um, I think, uh,
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  not only in the hospital, but in the ambulatory settings, you know,
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  so I think we need to look at some priorities around, you know,
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  how do we, um, enhance access for our communities and evolve here.
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  What has the discussion revolved around in regards to increasing that access to
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  care?
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  Great question. I think it's gonna be, have to be multifaceted. Um,
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  we're gonna have to look at leveraging different technology to
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  help meet patient needs, uh,
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  whether that's via telehealth platforms or partnerships with
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  different healthcare entities.
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  I think that's also expanding our partnerships within the community.
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  One of the,
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  the kind of the growing concerns amongst that care has,
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  has been mental health concerns. And so I think working on,
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  um, expanding partnerships with the community,
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  helping our patients tap into the community resources to seek out
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  mental health care needs is gonna be an important piece here.
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  And so that's part of that conversation. Uh, I think as we,
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  we move forward here.
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  Uh, what are you most excited about in the healthcare space right now?
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  What makes you nervous?
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  Well, , I think, you know, I'm up here in Michigan,
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  uh, so I'm kind of excited, uh, about the spring, um, and just, uh,
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  trying to get some warmer weather.
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  We still got a good amount of snow on the ground up here. Um,
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  I'm hoping that as we, we go further in the spring, we see the,
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  the surge of viral respiratory infections subside,
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  and we can kind of pivot to some warmer weather here and,
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  and, and,
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  and that may actually help allow a little bit of better access to care just
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  because of the, the, the virus respiratory surges is so overwhelmed, um,
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  our ambulatory care providers and, and hospital settings.
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  So I'm excited about that. Um,
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  I'm in general just very excited about the future of pediatrics and seeing
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  how we tackle the evolving care needs that exist in our community.
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  Yeah, so I think those are things that kind of excite me.
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  The things that make me nervous is just continuing to support our care
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  providers, our RNs,
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  our care managers and social workers are healthcare receptionists and healthcare
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  assistance supporting all the care providers of our team as we
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  continue to kind of tackle all the, the needs of our patients.
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  Uh, Dr. Ru, I'm Michigan State students,
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  were victims of horrific shooting in February.
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  Any another latest hosted listening session in the wake of the tragedy.
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  On that note, what steps are most important in advance in the healing process,
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  in the wake of such a tremendous event,
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  and how does Michigan State Healthcare help its personnel handle these
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  situations?
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  Yeah, thanks for asking that. Obviously it was a horrific event,
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  very tragic and sad experience for our community,
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  and we continue to pull for all the families who were
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  impacted by this. You know, from MSU healthcare standpoint,
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  leaders within our team and within the Department of Psychiatry
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  really pivoted, quickly, mobilized a lot of community,
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  uh, resources for all members of our community, but our students,
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  particularly our faculty and staff, because this is such a traumatic event,
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  and in order to have healing,
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  we need to be able to kind of tap into those resources.
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  So we've been working hard to ensure that our community has
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  all those resources. Our students have access to those resources,
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  whatever they may need as they continue to grieve and heal during this period
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  of time. Um, we've focused on just trying to have some strategies amongst,
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  you know, talking to our younger patients, our pediatric patients,
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  and how to talk to younger kids about those things.
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  So we've created some dialogue, uh,
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  examples and stuff like that to help support them.
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  And Dr. Root,
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  where do you even start when you're trying to explain to a young person
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  what has happened in a situation like this?
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  Well, I think where, where you started, you, you check in with where you're at,
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  kind of processing this thing and make sure you're in a good space there,
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  kind of understanding where you're at.
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  I think you start with with simple open-ended questions and you,
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  you're checking in with your child or your patient, you know,
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  asking what their thoughts are, what they're feeling,
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  kind of trying to tap into those emotions from there,
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  I think you give them space to, you know, and,
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  and time and maybe silence even to give them an opportunity to kind of
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  say what they're feeling. I think that as we continue to move forward, we,
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  we don't forget that we keep kind of circling back to that and seeing how those
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  emotions and those feelings are evolving.
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  I think that's an important part of it as well. You know,
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  making sure our patients,
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  our children know they have a safe space to talk about these things
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  anytime they want. I think it's an,
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  an additional important element to that conversation.
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  One month after this horrific event.
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  What is your sense of how the Michigan State Healthcare, um,
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  system as well as this community at large is,
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  how do you sense that they're recovering from this,
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  and how resilient do you see the community being?
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  I think the first thing I would say is our community came together in a way I've
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  not really ever seen, but it was so positive.
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  And I think that will only serve to drive our
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  resilience here. And, and I've seen a, a great sense of resilience amongst, um,
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  everyone in our community. I think we still have a lot of healing left go,
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  and I, I think that's the expected, but again,
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  I think our community really pulled together,
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  really bonded it around a spartan strong
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  mentality to support one another,
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  to acknowledge how challenging and, and,
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  and how tragic this experience has been. And,
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  and that has stood out to me in a way, you know, that I,
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  I could never have kind of imagined. Um, and so, uh,
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  I'm optimistic with that kind of community togetherness, uh,
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  that will continue to show great resilience in the wake of this strategy.
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  Obviously, no one wish any of this upon anyone. Uh,
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  but now that you have, uh, gone through this with your other healthcare leaders,
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  what advice do you have for others in your position?
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  So I think this harkens back to trying to be prepared.
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  You can never predict this. You can never imagine it happening,
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  but being ready for it,
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  thinking through that process will help a community be ready if there is an
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  event like this.
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  And I think that entails how do you mobilize resources to
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  support the community, particularly mental health resources,
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  mental health providers, counseling, therapy, et cetera.
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  I think those are critical aspects to being able to respond
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  effectively and efficiently and quickly in the wake of
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  any kind of event like that. And I think it goes back a little bit again,
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  this is going, I guess a little deeper here, but I, I think, you know, again,
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  it goes back to, to access to care,
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  especially with the mental health crisis I that we're,
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  we're experiencing, I think in our country right now,
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  I think that the mental health crisis has really put us on our heels a little
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  bit,
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  and it's forced us to be a lot more reactive than maybe we would
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  like to. And in, in medicine,
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  we always want to try to be preventative and provide preventative care.
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  So I think as we move forward,
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  one of the things we should be looking at and prioritizing is how do we pivot to
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  a more proactive strategy to address some of the mental health needs,
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  you know, in our communities, particularly with our pediatric patients.
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  That's something I really have an eye on, um, as we move forward.
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  And I think it's a,
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  it's a critical step that we need to take as pediatric providers.
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  Dr. Ru was a pleasure speaking today. Thank you being so open with us.
• 9:57
  Oh, it's my pleasure. Thank you. Uh, thanks for having me.