Gold Foundation Essay Contest Open - Deadline March 13, 2023

2023 Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest is now open Deadline: March 13, 11:59 p.m. PT

Medical and nursing students are invited to enter The Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest and engage in a reflective writing exercise around an experience of humanistic care. This year’s essay prompt is an excerpt from "How Far Away We Are," a poem by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón: "I want to give you something, or I want to take something from you. But I want to feel the exchange, the warm hand on the shoulder, the song coming out and the ear holding onto it.”  Six winners (three medical students and three nursing students) will receive a monetary award ($1,000 for first place, $500 for second place, and $250 for third place). Their essays will be published in Academic Medicine, the journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, and The Journal of Professional Nursing, of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

Learn more

About Dr. Hope Babette Tang The essay contest was named in honor of Hope Babette Tang-Goodwin, MD, an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics. Her devotion and generosity to the care of the children and infants with HIV infection in New York City was an inspiration to her colleagues and her students. Her approach to medicine combined a boundless enthusiasm for her work, intellectual rigor and deep compassion for her patients. In sum, Dr. Tang-Goodwin was an exemplar of humanistic care.

Essay Contest Details Essay contest participants engage in a reflective writing exercise that illustrates an experience where they or a team member worked to ensure that humanism was at the core of care. Submissions that touch upon students' personal experiences of humanistic care or stories of family and friends will also be accepted. Essays should be 1,000 words or fewer. Judges will be looking for essays that connect strongly to the Gold Foundation’s mission of humanism in healthcare for all. Winning essays will illuminate how the human connection can make a meaningful difference in care. The essay contest is open to medical students at accredited schools of medicine in the U.S. and Canada and nursing students at AACN member schools. Students at international medical schools that have a Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS) chapter are also eligible. For more information on contest rules and eligibility, please visit our website. Submissions are due Monday, March 13, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time.

Submit your essay

Temperature

From the January 6, 2023 issue of the Transformational Times

Temperature

By David Nelson, PhD, MS

Temperature
36 degrees Fahrenheit.
AM? PM?
Breathe that stands out.
Feet to stand on – cold.
Concrete to stand on – cold.
It rains, and the feet on the concrete – are cold.
Head, shoulders, arms, waist, legs, wet and cold.
You are out and in need of everything.
Gratitude for those that come along to support.
Holding a sign with shaking hands from the cold.
Breathe or fog – we do not know.
AM? PM?
36 degrees Fahrenheit.







Author’s Notes

This day was memorable for all the wrong reasons. There are days in the city that are just glorious. Bluebird days with blue skies and moderate temperatures and a shining sun. Then, there are days like this one. Gray clouds, frosty-just-short-of-freezing air and rain. I do not remember exactly if the forecast predicted a day of the weather, but having been out on the streets doing outreach for many years, I thought it could be just like this all day long. I snapped a picture with my phone of the digital thermometer in the truck while stopping for a coffee up a coffee and it stood out. Only the temperature showed on the digital thermometer. For some reason I thought it might be the same temperature all day long and it turned out to be so. It was going to be a crap weather day.

A recurrent theme of the streets are shoes. Community members walk a lot. It is not unusual to for someone to walk five or six miles on a given day. On outreach, I look at a person’s feet first. The shoes tell me a lot about the person. I can also know their size and if they have feet issues by seeing how they wear their shoes out. Worn heels signify one issue, toe sticking straight up or to the side another issue and so on. The size comes from changing a lot of shoes over the years – the benefit of working in a shoe store for a season.

David Nelson, PhD MS is an Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine at MCW. He leads many of MCW’s community engagement efforts, partnering with public and private organizations to enhance learning, research, patient care and the health of the community. Much of this work involves leaving campus and going to the places where the people he wants to help live, work and play. He serves on the board of Friedens Community Ministries, a local network of food pantries working to end hunger in the community.

The Power of Story--When We Truly Listen

From the December 9, 2022 Genetic Counseling Issue of the Transformational Times

The Power of Story--When We Truly Listen 

 By Jenny Geurts, MS 

 

Jenny Geurts, who is the inaugural program director of the Master of Science in Genetic Counseling (MSGC) training program at MCW, reflects on her community engagement experiences and the impact volunteer work has on learners.  

This year, our genetic counseling program had the pleasure of engaging with the Sisters Network SE WI Chapter which is doing amazing work in the Black/African American community to increase access to resources and information, advocate for change, and provide supportive sisterhood.  While the invitation was for us to provide information about genetics to their group of cancer survivors and thrivers, I found myself on the receiving end of the knowledge….   

So many of our community members reported stories of never being told about genetic counseling for hereditary cancer prevention and early detection.  And worse, several were told they couldn’t have genetic testing, even when they were asking for it, never being referred to genetic counseling to assess their risk.  What use is all our advances in genetic technology, when it is being kept from those in our community who need it the most?   

The persisting health disparities in hereditary cancer faced by the Black/African-American population is the topic of a recent review article by Ambreen Khan, et al published in the Oncologist.   

Our community members have so much to teach us, if only we are willing to listen.  

The topic of my presentation at the 2022 Wisconsin Cancer Summit this year “Genetic Risk and Family History: How Sharing Stories Can Save Lives”, where it was heartwarming to see many members of the Sisters Network in person.  The Summit theme this year was “The Power of Story,” and brought together patients, advocates, care providers, public health workers, scientists, administrators and more. I can attest that the mission of the Summit was met: Together, we learned how storytelling can be used to improve cancer health outcomes, empower patients and providers, and help us connect, transform, learn, and heal. 

Sherri’s Story 

Due to the generous spirit of one our clinic patients, I was able to tell Sherri's story at this year’s Summit.  

A story where listening meant life or death….   

For years her doctors didn’t listen, which resulted in Sherri being faced with death.  

“...my father he was only 26 when he was diagnosed, his mother, brother, sister and my cousin, they all had it young…” 

 “I know this is not my normal — waking up tired, all day tired,” 

“…no, it’s not just about me getting older, it’s more than that…” 

The power of family history for cancer prevention was lost on Sherri, she would become a statistic in the widening health disparities seen in genetics and cancer care. 

However, because of her resolve, determination, and faith, she persisted…. until finally someone did listen.   

And this time listening resulted in the power of additional life to live, importantly a ~quality~ of life. 

Sherri graciously allows us to amplify her voice, how her life was saved when someone listened, because of genetic testing and immunotherapy.   

If your curiosity is peaked and you’d like to learn more, I’d encourage you to check out the Summit Recap to access recorded presentations, view slide content and learn more about the Cancer Stories Performance, which is a powerful stage production from the Wisconsin Story Project that honors the personal stories of people affected by cancer.  The end result is profound, candid, and deeply human. 

Narrative Reflection Exercises  

We ended the two-day Summit event with a narrative medicine activity, led by Dr. Toby Campbell from the University of Wisconsin/Madison, where we attempted to capture the feelings about our experiences during the Summit with a six-word narrative.  I’d like to share my reflection with the Transformational Times readers: 

“Witnessed stories heal them….and me?” 

This experience allowed me to deepen the impact of the Summit experience and forge the patient stories into my consciousness, helping me make meaning of the toll cancer takes on so many families. I hope that the Transformational Times readers will consider the situations where their patients have been generous with them, in the stories they shared, and trust they instilled.  If only we are compassionate and humble enough to truly listen. 

As part of our Genetic Counseling Seminar course in the MSGC program, learners participate in community engagement volunteering to promote a deeper understanding of the patient experience.  Having just learned about another narrative exercise (the 55-word essay) at the Summit, I thought asking the students to try this activity might also help them further process their experiences in the community.  In this exercise the writer must choose exactly 55 words for their narrative, resulting in the need to be extremely intentional about their word choice. The power of the 55-word essay was not only impactful for them, but also for me, as it was a whole new way for me to have a transcendent vicarious experience through reading their reflections.  Several of my learners wrote 55 word reflections after participation in volunteer community events, and are highlighted within the Poetry Corner of this Transformational Times issue. 

Creating a MSGC Mission Statement 

When our program development started in early 2020, we were asked to create a mission statement, it was something we were obligated to do and at first felt very “corporate.”  I certainly couldn’t recall the mission statement of the school I attended, and I didn’t understand the relevance of it, other than “checking the box” of requirements.  But when we brought the team together to start working on it, that is when it really came alive to me. 

The several months of developing the mission statement were painstaking. However, the considerations we took, and process we went through to land on these twenty-one intentional words, was so rewarding to us.  We are delighted with our mission statement as we feel it truly represents what we are here to do.   

Words matter.   

This narrative exercise of creating a mission statement also really helped me understand the power of our words.  

We hope this mission statement resonates with you as well, as either a provider, an educator, a learner, and/or a member of the community.  

Acknowledgements 

Special shout out to the dedicated work of Dr. Sandra Underwood, Debra Nevels, Raul Romo, Sharon Brown, Stephanie Newsome, Gigi Sanchez, Dr. Melinda Stolley, Dr. Charles Rogers, and others who cultivate relationships to ensure the success of community outreach activities. 

Jenny Geurts is an Assistant Professor in the Institute of Health & Equity and serves as the Associate Director of Genetic Counseling in the Genomic Science and Precision Medicine Center at MCW. She has been in practice for over fifteen years and has specialized in a variety of genetic conditions including oncology, cardiology, neurology, gastroenterology, and endocrinology.  She most recently has provided clinical care with an emphasis on inherited cancer conditions at Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin Clinical Cancer Center. She is board certified by the American Board of Genetic Counseling. 

If You had a Blank Slate, How Would You Integrate Narrative into Medical Education?

From the 6/18/2021 newsletter

Three Questions for Dr. Deepthiman Gowda

If You had a Blank Slate, How Would You Integrate Narrative into Medical Education?

Deepthiman Gowda, MD MPH MS, is a nationally recognized expert on Narrative Medicine and the founding Assistant Dean for Medical Education at the newly opened Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine in Pasadena CA. He spoke to Transformational Times editor, Bruce Campbell …

Transformational Times: In what ways is narrative integrated into the curriculum at the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine? 

Dr. Gowda: The School of Medicine's curriculum was intentionally built on the three co-equal pillars of the Biomedical, Clinical, and Health Systems Sciences. By emphasizing the value of deep dives into health systems along with the other disciplines, students discover that organ dysfunction, illness, and suffering always occur within social and societal contexts, and that nuanced and effective “doctor-patient relationships” require students to understand and address often obscure, external forces. Through our “spiral” model of learning, students revisit these key areas and concepts repeatedly and with increasing sophistication throughout the four years. 

In addition, we identified core values we consider essential for meaningful participation in high-functioning healthcare and turned these into four reappearing curricular “threads.” These are: 

• Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity
• Health Promotion
• Interprofessional Collaboration 
• Advocacy and Leadership

Narrative Medicine and its pedagogical cousins fit nicely within this curricular approach.  For example, patients are often powerfully affected by the social determinants of health and experience their illnesses and healthcare interactions within larger narrative frameworks. These moments provide wonderful opportunities for our students to explore and respond to stories. On a personal level, providers benefit when they have guided, protected time to investigate their own narratives. Finally, interprofessional teams and interpersonal relationships function better when people understand each other’s stories. 

To enable these moments, we built many opportunities for narrative into our curriculum. We worked with the foundational scientists and clinicians to provide narrative opportunities at “moments of attention,” such as with cadaver dissection, pelvic and breast exam sessions, and challenging experiences. Over the four years, each student participates in regular REACH sessions (Reflection, Education, Assessment, Coaching, Health and Well-Being), that occur in one-week blocks, four times each in Years One and Two and three time each in Years Three and Four. REACH incorporates dedicated time to explore health, well-being, and resilience skills. Students participate in close reading, writing-to-a-prompt, and conversation, facilitated by trained faculty mentors who remain with the same groups of six students throughout the four years. The sessions also include goal setting, professional identity formation activities, and the creation of critical reflective essays. 

Transformational Times: How have the students taken to this emphasis on narrative in the curriculum? 

Dr. Gowda: Students these days expect curricula to address health systems issues in ways that were not explored in the past. There was great local and national engagement around the Black Lives Matter movement and how implicit bias is manifest in medicine. Our school is small, only about fifty students per class, but the learners are enthusiastic about narrative opportunities. About one-quarter are part of our Medical Humanities Interest Group, for example. The M2s will soon head to one of the local art museums. 

Student-led initiatives have been key. For example, the students organized StoryTime, a monthly storytelling event that is much like The Moth. Each event includes volunteer student, staff, and faculty storytellers and is built around a theme, such as Solidarity, Community, or Mental Health. These events provide a glue for our community. 

Transformational Times: What barriers are there to incorporating narrative meaningfully into the curriculum?

Dr. Gowda: Well, first of all, it is relatively simple to bring narrative to topics such as well-being, professional identity formation, and diversity & inclusion. Students understand the inherent value of reflecting on - and learning from - their own experiences and struggles. For these types of narrative experiences, they engage easily. 

Other areas of study can be more challenging. Employing narrative techniques to unwrap broader issues within health systems science are also valuable but can be difficult, particularly when trying to make sense of large, amorphous structures and bureaucracies. Finding ways to integrate narrative into foundational sciences can be the most difficult, requiring commitment and engagement by both faculty and students. But it can be done. 

All of us in the field struggle with metrics. In other words, how do we demonstrate the value of narrative in the curriculum? There are rubrics for scoring reflective activities, but we don’t always know if they are measuring what we think they are. We also worry that if students believe they are being “graded” on their reflections, that might suck the joy out of the process. Reflection fatigue is real, and students are smart enough to “write to the test,” even with reflective essays. 

We need to understand the students’ growth along the spectrum - as my colleague at Columbia University, Maura Spiegel, describes - between “thin” and “thick” narratives. In this sense, growth occurs when students demonstrate shifts from stories that focus on a single aspect of identity to stories that reflect multiple points of view and enriched contexts. The ability to create these “thickened narratives” might be important in understanding our learners’ narrative progress and competence. 

As they graduate, we need to make certain that our efforts have helped them become compassionate, team-based, and resilient physicians who possess narrative humility. We believe narrative is part of that, but we are still deciding how best to understand and measure progress in a competency-based system.

The transformation of medical education is a difficult but necessary challenge. I have been here at Kaiser Permanente for two years and have never worked harder in my career. It is a huge, exciting task and there is much left to do. 

 

Deepthiman Gowda, MD MPH MS, is the Assistant Dean for Medical Education and Associate Professor of Medicine at the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine. He also serves at the Director of Clinical Practice of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center Division of Narrative Medicine.