Medical Professionals

Reflective Reading for Interdisciplinary Teams

Since 2007, the Palliative Care Team at John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County in Chicago has been holding regular "Reflective Reading" sessions with an interdisciplinary team of doctors, nurses, social workers, and other hospital staff as a way to strengthen connections among staff members and improve job morale. Discussions are incorporated into the team's Educational Series, which also includes Journal Club, Case Conference, and Grand Rounds.

Chief of General Medicine Dr. Jennifer Smith and Director of Palliative Care Services Dr. Catherine Deamant introduced the group to civic reflection after attending Project on Civic Reflection facilitation trainings. The discussions give team members the chance to talk about the meaning of their work and connect in a new way— using short pieces of literature as the anchor for discussion and with team members taking turns facilitating the discussion.

Benefits

A 2009 evaluation of the series, funded by Prince Charitable Trusts and conducted by the Project on Civic Reflection, indicated that reflective reading sessions have had the following impact on team members:

• Increased their capacity to work effectively both with one another and with the patients they serve.
• Increased job satisfaction in the areas of service, creativity, and co-worker relations as a result of the discussions.
• Increased professionalism— a core competency in medical education.

And in an unexpected but exciting finding, team members said that by fostering deeper empathy, increased understanding and a sense of renewal in their work, reflective reading had improved their approach to patient care.

During interviews, team members described 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." As part of this project, a toolkit was developed to help other palliative care, hospice or interdisciplinary teams to implement this activity in other health care settings.

A 3-Year Initiative to Expand the Practice

In partnership with Stroger Hospital and with funding from Prince Charitable Trusts, The Project on Civic Reflection is now expanding these reflective reading programs to other Chicago area hospice and palliative care programs.

In September 2011, PCR trained representatives of 6 Chicago hospitals and hospice—Hospice and 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—to lead reflective reading programs with their teams from October 2011 to June 2012. This is the first phase of a planned three-year initiative to introduce the practice of reflective reading in up to 20 hospitals and hospices in the Chicago area.

Sites are now being recruited to participate in Years 2 and 3 of the initiative. Each site institution commits to send 2-3 representatives to a September training workshop, to hold a minimum of six reflective reading sessions between October and June, and to participate in the research and evaluation effort, which is being directed by Dr. Joshua Hauser of Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.

The PCR staff is excited about the opportunity to help other palliative care, hospice or multidisciplinary teams implement this innovative and renewing activity.

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.