On November 12th, Wendy will serve on the panel “What Does The Successful System Of The Future Look Like? Strategies to Continue, or Changes that Need to be Made for System-Success” at Becker’s 8th Annual CEO + CFO Roundtable. As part of an ongoing series, Becker’s is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place November 11-13, 2019 in Chicago.
To learn more about the conference and Wendy’s session, click here.
Question: What is going on right now?
Wendy Rheault: Our university is transforming the future of health care by educating health professionals who are committed to the national goals of the Quadruple Aim, a strategy for the simultaneous improvement of the patient experience of care, health of populations, per capita cost of care and practitioner satisfaction. Clinician burnout and dissatisfaction is a preventable problem. We’re using an interprofessional, team-based model of education and collaborative practice that systematizes good communication practices, care coordination and the sharing of responsibility as a means to helping health professionals find personal connection and satisfaction in their work.
Q: There is a lot to improve upon in healthcare. Of the many issues that hold your attention, what is the one you consider exceptionally imperative and urgent?
WR: Lifestyle medicine is crucial. A huge chunk — 80 percent or more — of all healthcare spending in the United States is related to the treatment of conditions that could be prevented by healthier lifestyle choices. Smoking is the number one cause of preventable death. Obesity, a form of malnutrition, unleashes a host of chronic health problems including hypertension, heart disease, and Type 2 diabetes. Our scientists are studying how obesity, very early on, even in children, causes a chronic inflammatory response that may contribute to microvascular dysfunction. We have to, as a society, make it easier to stay healthy.
Q: We are all pressed for time and attention. Help us sift through the meaningless and the meaningful by sharing the last thing you read, heard or did that shifted your mindset and really made a difference in your personal or professional life.
WR: “Compassionomics: The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence that Caring Makes a Difference,” delves into data that shows compassionate care is a crucial factor in patient outcomes. The authors find that when practitioners show warmth and attention in patient encounters, patient outcomes improve. So many of our students go into the health professions because they do care, and want to make a difference in people’s lives. We can and should teach the skills of caring, which are good for patients but good for caregivers too. The art of caring is a path to meaning and joy, first and foremost, for those who care.
At Becker's 4th Annual CEO + CFO Roundtable, taking place November 2–5 in Chicago, more than 1,500 hospital and health system executives tackle decisions that determine whether organizations thrive or merely survive: protecting margins under cost pressure, choosing where to grow, renegotiating payer relationships, stabilizing the workforce and proving real ROI on technology. This is where leaders work through them together, face-to-face. Apply for complimentary registration now.
