With generous support from Prince Charitable Trusts, The Project on Civic Reflection is helping six hospices and palliative care teams in the Chicago area to launch civic reflection programs this fall: Hospice & Palliative Care of Northeastern Illinois, Midwest Palliative and Hospice CareCenter, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Rainbow Hospice and Palliative Care, Rush University Medical Center, and University of Chicago Medical Center.

Representatives from each site attended a facilitation training workshop in September co-led by PCR director Adam Davis and Literature & Medicine facilitator Emily Archer. Representatives participated in sessions on planning and leading discussions and brainstormed strategies for getting their own programs off the ground.

Each of the six sites will hold at least six civic reflection discussions with doctors, nurses, social workers, and other staff members between October 2011 and June 2012. Each site also will participate in the research and evaluation of the program, including quantitative surveys of participants' levels of burnout and team dynamics and qualitative surveys of their job satisfaction.

Called Strengthening Those Who Serve: Reflective Reading and Discussion Programs for Palliative Care and Hospice Teams, this project follows a successful two-year pilot by the Palliative Care Service at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, Chicago's largest public hospital. Since 2007 the Palliative Care Service at Stroger Hospital has incorporated civic reflection discussions into its weekly Educational Series, a series that also includes Journal Club, Case Conference, and Grand Rounds. An evaluation of the program's impact in 2009 indicated that the Reflective Reading series has enhanced the job satisfaction of members of the Palliative Care Service and increased their ability to work both with one another and with the patients they serve. Participants at Stroger also identified Reflective Reading as an activity that addresses professionalism, a core competency in medical education, for physicians in training.

Several participants spoke in the interviews of feeling reaffirmed and rejuvenated in their work. As one participant put it, "Service is in the nature of being a physician—it is core to the work. This process reminds me why I went into medicine in the first place. It draws on the art and humanistic aspect that often gets lost."

PCR is excited about the opportunity to help other palliative care, hospice or multidisciplinary teams implement this innovative and renewing activity. If you have questions or would like to learn more about Reflective Reading for healthcare professionals, please contact program director Catherine Tufariello at (219) 464-5187 or by email at civic.reflection@valpo.edu.