Latest / Becker’s Healthcare -- Pediatric Leadership Podcast / Tackling the Loneliness Epidemic: Insights from Dr. Susmita Pati on Children’s Health and Technology

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Tackling the Loneliness Epidemic: Insights from Dr. Susmita Pati on Children’s Health and Technology · Becker’s Healthcare -- Pediatric Leadership Podcast

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  This is Chris with the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
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  I'm thrilled today to be joined by Sushmita
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  Poffi, MDMPH.
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  He is chief of the division of primary
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  care pediatrics
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  at Stony Brook Medicine
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  and chief medical program adviser for the Allen
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  Aldis Center for communicating science and a 10
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  year professor of pediatrics for the Renaissance School
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  of Medicine. Doctor Pote, thank you for joining
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  us today.
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  Thanks so much for having me.
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  Doctor, could you please introduce yourself and tell
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  us a bit about your background?
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  Sure.
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  Well, you've already cited all my titles, so
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  that's terrific.
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  But my background really is as a health
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  care executive
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  with a focus on
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  workforce development and population health.
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  And that's,
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  my fellowship training is in that, in population
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  health directly.
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  And I've really been working
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  throughout my career on how we can make
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  the system work better for everybody.
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  Thank you for that, doctor. Could you tell
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  us let's start with this. What is one
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  change you've made in the last year where
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  you had great results?
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  Yeah. Sure.
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  So with support from HRSA,
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  we have a cooperative agreement to promote provider
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  resiliency, health care workforce resiliency.
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  And so we've been implementing
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  a number of programs
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  to do that.
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  And that's completely in line with our
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  strategic plan for Stony Brook Medicine where the
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  first priority is on
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  a positive workforce
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  culture.
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  So we've been putting together various pieces and
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  one piece, that I'd like to spend a
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  little time telling you about is our Alda
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  Healthcare experience.
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  And that is a
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  medical improv communication
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  workshop for healthcare professionals.
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  It draws upon the theater arts and the
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  discipline of science communication
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  to build healthcare team communication
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  skills.
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  And we all know that when a team
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  feels cohesive, it has positive downstream effects on
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  lots of different things, including safety,
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  quality,
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  and, of course,
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  organizational
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  culture, retention,
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  etcetera.
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  Doctor, I'm glad you mentioned the improv portion
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  of that. That's not necessarily something that
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  our audience would necessarily connect
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  to health care and building, workforce development.
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  So can you explain a little bit about
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  how that has been successful and the feedback
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  that you've gotten from those who have participated?
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  Yeah. Sure.
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  So to be honest, in health care, we
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  are doing improv every day. Like, whom you
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  work with in a shift, that changes.
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  We have new, trainees that join our workforce
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  on a regular basis,
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  new hires, all of that.
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  And we all need to work together in
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  the moment to take care of the patient
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  that's in front of us,
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  even if we don't know each other very
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  well.
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  And so improv
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  is really based on that principle
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  of
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  taking what's been given to you and saying
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  as they say, yes and,
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  building upon that piece.
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  And that's one of the first rules of
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  improv.
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  And so this healthcare communication
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  workshop, we've been putting together and piloting and
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  evaluating
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  now for the past 5 or 6 years.
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  And all of our evaluation is showing its
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  positive impact,
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  both on communication skills for individuals,
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  but also amongst
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  team cohesion,
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  feeling that
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  connection to the other folks that you are
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  working with and thinking about ways that you
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  can continue to leverage those opportunities for personal
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  connection
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  in your day to day work, so that
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  you're all rowing in the same direction.
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  That all sounds very much worthwhile, doctor. Thank
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  you for outlining
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  where that trend has been working for you.
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  Speaking of trends, so what are the top
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  trends you are following in health care at
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  the moment?
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  Yeah. So I'm looking a lot at what
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  is being done in workforce retention, resilience,
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  those trends, how
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  technology can be used to really develop
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  and support our workforce. So everything from virtual
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  scribes to,
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  the automated kind of billing pieces that can
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  be done. All of those things are really
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  important, I think to support our workforce,
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  who continue to be stressed
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  with the high levels of burnout that are
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  occurring.
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  So those are the kinds of things that
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  I've been following.
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  Of course, the downstream impact health equity is
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  near and dear to my heart. So I'm
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  certainly very attuned to what is happening in
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  that space as well.
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  Opportunities that come from various organizations, the federal
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  government,
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  philanthropic, etcetera,
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  for, implementing or supporting new programs.
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  All of those things are things that I
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  I tend to follow.
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  Doctor, along the lines of communication as far
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  as stress is concerned,
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  have you found that
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  being able to improve communication skills has helped
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  reduce stress among teams at Stony Brook and
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  elsewhere?
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  We have, and I'm happy to share we
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  published some about that, and there's more forthcoming.
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  It's also a good time for me to
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  mention our single session support center that we
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  call our S3 center.
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  And this is a virtual support
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  that's available to health care workers in acute
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  need.
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  There's 2 pieces available for health care providers.
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  One piece is something they can complete on
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  their own.
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  It's a single session web based intervention to
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  promote a growth mindset,
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  and it's been proven to help reduce
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  mild to moderate depression and anxiety.
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  The other part is a virtual meeting with
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  a trained person
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  who can help guide development of a brief
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  action plan
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  around whatever the acute need is.
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  And that we are in the process of
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  evaluating,
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  its impact here at Stony Brook Medicine.
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  Doctor, once you have everyone on your team,
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  anyone's team, growing in the same direction as
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  you put it,
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  hopefully, growth is one of the next steps.
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  How are you thinking about growth in the
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  next year or 2?
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  Absolutely. Growth is definitely one of the next
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  steps,
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  and we are thinking about growth in multiple
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  ways.
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  As I mentioned, our first priority is our
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  workforce
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  culture, our organizational culture.
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  We want to be a place that people
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  want to work at and stay working at.
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  And we are
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  and we're going to continue to try to
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  make it as attractive as possible for folks
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  to stay here at Stony Brook Medicine.
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  So we're doing lots of different things across
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  the organization to support that.
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  We're also a place where we want to
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  implement innovative ways to deliver health care, so
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  that people feel that their work is valued,
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  and that the community is getting that benefit.
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  So all of those things really are focusing
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  on workforce as the first step and then
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  the downstream impact of that in terms of
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  building opportunities for growth and expansion.
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  Thank you, doctor. Lastly, I wanted to ask
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  you, what is one issue or element of
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  health care do you think deserves a brighter
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  spotlight?
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  I think the workforce
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  issues that we've been talking about deserves a
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  brighter spotlight. I know there's movements at multiple
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  levels to do that,
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  and I think there needs to be more.
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  Doctor Baldy, thank you for being so generous
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  with your time and your insights today. We
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  absolutely cannot wait to share them with our
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  audience, and we look forward to connecting with
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  you soon, including at Becker's event.
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  Thank you so much.