Podcasts about Gundersen Health System

Larry Olsen welcomes Dr. Roger Gerard—renowned author, former Chief Culture Officer of Gundersen Health System, and a rare leader who bridges neuroscience, systems thinking, and real-world organizational change. In this episode, they explore how fear subtly drives dysfunction—and how leaders can break the cycle by creating cultures grounded in psychological safety, curiosity, and courageous clarity. Dr. Gerard's insights aren't theoretical—they're hard-won from decades on the front lines of high-stakes, high-performance environments. If you're serious about shifting behavior and unlocking your team's true potential, this conversation is essential.

Health care institutions can significantly reduce their environmental impact while also saving money and improving community health.  In this episode, Dr. Jeff Thompson, former CEO of Gundersen Health System and advisor, discusses his pioneering work at Gundersen Health System in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. He explains that by focusing on waste reduction, energy efficiency, and renewable energy sources, Gundersen decreased their emissions by 95% while simultaneously saving money, improving local economies, and ultimately benefiting patient health. Dr. Thompson details how they identified simple fixes, such as adjusting air exchange systems, and implemented large-scale projects, such as using landfill methane. He also addresses the need for industry-wide change and recognizes the growing movement of young professionals and health care organizations taking action.  Tune in and learn how to make health care more sustainable, economically sound, and beneficial for communities' health! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the this episode, Dr. Christopher Tookey and Dr. Rose Wobrink review how to stop a nose bleed. They dive in to technique as well as some medicines that can help. They then review how to prevent them (hopefully) We're providing general guidance but everyone is different and you should always discuss with your health care professional management of any disease and therapy before trying anything you discover from a source on the internet (including this podcast). This podcast does not reflect the opinion of our employer.

In celebration of National Nurses Week, Marcus is joined by Heather Schimmers who shares the launch of Emplify Health, insights into her career as a nurse, and role as a leader. Todays topics include; what brought Heather into nursing, her leadership style, and a spotlight on those who have helped her along the way. Join us in celebrating nurse leaders and making an impact at all levels. Key Moments:00:00 – Introductions01:47 – Heather Schimmers announces their bigger merger and launch of the new system, Emplify Health.03:05 – Heather talks about her daily role and what got her into the healthcare field.09:50 – Marcus asks about a time where Heather has witnessed compassion.14:32 – Heather and Marcus talk about leadership and how to be a great leader.29:40 – Heather would like to leave us with, “kindness matters.”35:58 – Heather talks about some of her side passions and the Special Olympics Wisconsin. 38:50 – Thank yous and a final story from Heather.Resources for you: More communication tips and resources for how to cultivate compassion: https://marcusengel.com/freeresources/Connect with Marcus on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusengel/Connect with Heather Schimmers on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-schimmers/Learn more about the Special Olympics Wisconsin: https://www.specialolympicswisconsin.orgLearn more about Marcus' Books: https://marcusengel.com/store/Subscribe to our podcast through Apple: https://bit.ly/MarcusEngelPodcastSubscribe to our podcast through YouTube: https://bit.ly/Youtube-MarcusEngelPodcast More About Heather Schimmers, MBA, BSN, RN:Heather Schimmers is an experienced clinical and administrative leader who serves as President of the Gundersen Health System. She is responsible for all functional and strategic operations in the region and connection to the same in the Bellin Region.In her career, Heather has led strategic projects at the local and national level; developed multidisciplinary practice councils to bring stakeholders together to improve care; and she has been a key clinical leader working with clinicians, clinical staff, and fellow executives to drive success.Prior to bringing two decades of healthcare leadership experience to Gundersen in 2021, Heather served as chief nursing officer for Ascension Wisconsin. Heather also served as the vice president of Patient Care Services for St. Elizabeth Hospital in Appleton, Wis., and has deep experience with nursing practice, specialty care services, patient experience best practices, and building corporate culture.Heather leads to make sure voices are heard and that staff are exceptional and compassionate as they care for patients. She also strives to be inclusive in gathering a broad range of perspectives and data to make decisions. Heather has been honored for this work as a Corporate Woman of Excellence by Insight Magazine and with an Athena International Leadership award.Heather makes certain that the time she spends engaging with other organizations aligns to her values, an example being her board seat with Special Olympics of Wisconsin. Date: 5/6/2024 Name of show: Compassion & Courage: Conversations in Healthcare Episode number and title: Episode 143 – Celebrating National Nurses Week - Heather Schimmers, MBA, BSN, 

In the this episode, Dr. Christopher Tookey and Dr. Rose Wolbrink talk about how someone can tell if they are in shape. They discuss a couple different ways someone can find out and the pros and cons of each method  We're providing general guidance but everyone is different and you should always discuss with your health care professional management of any disease and therapy before trying anything you discover from a source on the internet (including this podcast). This podcast does not reflect the opinion of our employer. 

In this episode, Praveen Chopra, Chief Digital and Information Officer at Bellin and Gundersen Health System shares insight into his organization, what integration looks like when two major systems merge, what he is currently focusing on in his role today, and more.

Join us as we delve into the challenges and opportunities facing healthcare leadership in the perioperative space. Hear from experts at Gundersen Health System on their innovative approach to addressing workforce shortages, optimizing capacity, and leveraging AI technology for improved efficiency and outcomes — including a 12% increase in OR utilization. Discover insights on navigating change management and best practices for implementing new solutions. Whether you're a surgeon, hospital leader, or simply interested in healthcare innovation, this episode offers valuable insights for navigating the future of perioperative care.This episode is sponsored by LeanTaaS.

Today's guest is Kelly Barton, President of Maine Behavioral Healthcare, part of the MaineHealth System. Maine Behavioral Healthcare offers a full spectrum of behavioral health care, from community-based counseling and rehabilitation to a dedicated behavioral health hospital.   In this podcast we talk about Kelly's career journey starting as a unit coordinator in the emergency department through leadership roles in a variety of organizations. We discuss some of the challenges facing behavioral health providers currently, and we close on a discussion of leadership.Links discussed on this podcast:* Maine Behavioral Healthcare https://www.mainehealth.org/maine-behavioral-healthcare * MaineHealth https://www.mainehealth.org/* Community Health Network https://www.ecommunity.com/* Gundersen Health System https://www.gundersenhealth.org/Other options to listen to the podcast:* Apple Podcasts* YouTube: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit healthleaderforge.substack.com

Gundersen dietitian Laura Birkel joined La Crosse Talk PM on Tuesday to discuss the annoying “diet” no normal person can sustain, is “Ozempic” and “Wegovy” weight loss drugs too good to be true, dangerous supplements and making your New Year's Resolutions stick. Birkel is in her eighth year as a dietitian — four with Gundersen Health System in Onalaska. We spent, again, quite a bit of time talking about Ozempic and Wegovy, drugs that change your brain chemistry. Also, had Birkel describe the “Mediterranean” diet, before I ripped on it for being unsustainable with most people's lifestyle.  Then we hit on new trends. In the past five years, energy drinks may have been one of those, but Birkel has been getting a lot of questions on “protein drinks.” So, we discussed the positives and negatives of protein additives and the role of protein, in general. Then we got into New Year's resolutions, using tech to stick to your goals and we wrapped up talking about dangerous supplements out there and what to watch for. La Crosse Talk PM airs weekdays at 5:06 p.m. Listen on the WIZM app, online or on 92.3 FM / 1410 AM / 106.7 FM (north of Onalaska). Find all the podcasts by searching La Crosse Talk PM wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Rana Limbo is co-founder and director emerita of a program called Resolve Through Sharing, which has trained tens of thousands of health care professionals over the past 40+ years to work with patients who have experienced the heartbreak of stillbirth, miscarriage or the death of a child. The program was created at a time when such losses were not openly or effectively addressed. The program is part of the Gundersen Health System.

In this podcast, Shannon from Gundersen Health System and Casey from M Health Fairview discuss the importance of Human Understanding in healthcare and share strategies for implementing it within their organizations. Shannon outlines the steps Gundersen has taken to adopt these ideas, highlighting the positive impacts they have seen. Casey emphasizes the significance of Human Understanding for M Health Fairview and provides advice for other patient and customer experience leaders seeking to implement similar approaches. Jon wraps up the podcast by summarizing the key takeaways and discussing a relevant case study. This episode is sponsored by NRC Health.

Andrea Hauser, Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President – Acute Care La Crosse Nursing at Gundersen Health System joins the podcast to discuss her background, most successful project or initiative from the last year, how she sees the clinical workforce evolving, best advice for aspiring physician and nurse leaders, and more!

Andrea Hauser, Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President – Acute Care La Crosse Nursing at Gundersen Health System joins the podcast to discuss her background, most successful project or initiative from the last year, how she sees the clinical workforce evolving, best advice for aspiring physician and nurse leaders, and more!

On this episode of PSW's Ambulatory Care Podcast, Jen Slaughter and Dan Wilk interview Kassie Kollauf, PharmD, Chelsea Voight, PharmD, BCACP, and Amanda Wegenka, PharmD, BCACP from Gundersen Health System. Kassie, Chelsea, and Amanda discuss their unique roles (including challenges, triumphs, and involvement with PSW) in their approach to chronic disease management in clinic and at the community pharmacy level. This podcast coincides with the #ShareYourStoryPSW social media campaign that can be found on PSW social media channels throughout 2023. Kassie Kollauf - kkkollau@gundersenhealth.orgChelsea Voight - clvoight@gundersenhealth.orgAmanda Wegenka - alwegenk@gundersenhealth.org

October 24: Today on TownHall Sue Schade, Principal at StarBridge Advisors speaks with Liz Griffith, Director of EHR Education and Bobby Zarr, Vice President of Healthcare at uPerform. They reveal how healthcare organizations can optimize available resources, decrease the time clinicians spend on training, and boost user satisfaction in implementing electronic health record (EHR) systems. Amidst the backdrop of current industry challenges, the duo discuss the innovative ways they've helped health systems navigate these complexities - cue, turning training time into patient time. Is the key to overcoming these challenges the integration of personalized, efficient learning rooted in the EHR? We dig deeper into their experiences, learning how the larger healthcare narrative is envisioned through their eyes. How does this transformative approach to EHR education tie into the bigger picture of the ongoing evolution of healthcare technology?Articles mentioned in this episode: BSW EHR Satisfaction: https://www.uperform.com/news/bsw-improves-ongoing-ehr-education/MHealth Fairview eConsent adoption: https://www.uperform.com/blog/virtual-epic-training-podcast/UCHealth reducing onboarding time: https://www.uperform.com/ct-lin-podcast/Gundersen Health System reducing onboarding time by 66%: https://www.uperform.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Case-Study_Gundersen-Health-System.pdfUnlock the full potential of AI in Healthcare with experts David Baker, Lee Milligan, and Reid Stephan on Nov 2nd, 1 PM ET. Learn to navigate budget constraints and enhance operational efficiency in healthcare IT. Don't miss out on affordable, scalable AI solutions and practical tips for success. Register Here: https://thisweekhealth.com/practical-ai-in-healthcare/This Week Health SubscribeThis Week Health TwitterThis Week Health LinkedinAlex's Lemonade Stand: Foundation for Childhood

Dietitian Laura Birkel joined La Crosse Talk PM last week to break down dairy v. plant milk, what to eat before the big game, and the new weight loss drug, Ozempec, among other things. Birkel has been a dietitian for seven years, the last three of which at Gundersen Health System in La Crosse.  We spent quite a bit of time trying to decipher the news surrounding the diabetes drug, like Ozempic, that more and more people are taking simply to lose weight. Do the frightening headlines people see about the drug have any basis in reality or are they just headline porn? Also, with school starting and high school and college sports getting back into full swing, we discussed some of the things people should eat before the game — whether that's the night before, hours before or right before playing. We also talked about dairy v. plant milk, if sparkling water is good for you and how bad is cheese, really?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode features Andrea Hauser, Chief Nursing Officer at Gundersen Health System. Here, she joins the podcast to discuss trends in the nursing space, the future of nursing, and the use of AI in healthcare.

How much should your kid sleep?  The answer may shock you as most kids today simply aren't getting the quality sleep they need to be successful. In this episode Dr. Tookey and Dr. Wolbrink run though how much sleep kids need from newborns to high school age kids. Dr. Wolbrink then shares her BEARS mnemonic look for what to change to help get kids back on track with their sleep  A disclaimer, we're providing general guidance but everyone is different and you should always discuss with your health care professional management of any disease and therapy before trying anything you discover from a source on the internet (including this podcast)

Imagine, you can't speak. Your eyes watch as the doctors and your family discuss your medical treatment.  Your love ones don't know what to do.  They don't even have the legal permission to provide the hospital staff with recommendations for your care.  Worse yet, if they had the legal right, they're fighting among themselves as to what care you would even want to have.  If they only knew.  If they only had something from you to help direct them to all the answers, to all their questions. If they simply had the power to act on your behalf, as you lie there unable to let them know. Before we discuss this emergency event, please download this fillable PDF from the following link:  Mark Bertrang's guest for this episode is Denise Nicholson, BSN, RN - The Advance Care Planning Program Manager with the Gundersen Health System in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Our step-by-step discussion will assist you in creating your very own legal Advance Directive, including the Power of Attorney for Healthcare. Time Stamps 00:00 – Intro 04:57 – Power of Attorney for Healthcare vs Advance Directive 16:00– The Five D's 25:55 – Where to Store Copies 32:40 – Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Healthcare Agents 39:15 – Authority of Healthcare Agents 51:40 – Statement of Desires 1:00:05 – Being Clear and Specific with your Wishes 1:09:43 – Leaving Personal Messages 1:11:37 – What Do You Want Your Death to Look Like? 1:20:50 – Making it Legal 1:25:00 - Conclusion

Data show that women still lag behind men in representation in senior leadership positions. In part two of Radio Advisory's Allyship in Action series, Advisory Board's managing director of workplace culture Micha'le Simmons talks with women in healthcare leadership roles about times when they could have used an ally and what they think could make a real difference in the professional trajectories of women. We will also leave you with some final thoughts on why it's on all of us to make healthcare leadership more attainable for traditionally marginalized communities. Episode guests: Micha'le Simmons, Managing Director of Workforce Culture, Advisory Board Dr. Kelley Bahr, MD, Medical Vice President of Ambulatory Services, Gundersen Health System Dr. Elishae Johnson, PhD, LPC, CAADC, System Director Business Health Services at Bronson Healthcare Dr. Jennifer Kleven, MD, MPH, FAAP, Medical Director of Research and Grants, Gundersen Health System Charity Shelley, Manager of Culture, Inclusion & Diversity, Advisory Board Links: Ep. 156: Allyship in Action (Part 1): Beyond Leaning In with Melanie Ho The manager's guide to inclusion and belonging: Tools to navigate specific leadership challenges using inclusive leadership Introduction to adaptive leadership Learn more about the Advisory Board Fellowship: advisory.com/fellowship

This episode features Dr. Michael Dolan, Co-Chief Clinical Officer at Bellin Health & Gundersen Health System. Here, he discusses his background & what led him to his current role, what it takes to thrive in an organization for 20-30+ years, top priorities for 2023, and more.

Gundersen registered dietitian Laura Birkel joined to break down some of myths out there in the food world, how to navigate protein as a vegan, those pre-made dinners we see everywhere and some discrepancies with the new food compass — plus much more. Some of those food myths included whether things like eggs or coffee are healthy. We also talked about some sports myths, like drinking pickle juice to stave off cramps and if protein powder is a good supplement. A big thing today, since we have no time to cook as a society, we see these pre-made dinners, which look like they've replaced frozen dinners. We bet Birkel's take on whether they are actually healthy? Birkel works out of the Onalaska clinic at Gundersen Health System. We began the show talking a bit about what she does and who could/should go see her or her colleagues. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It is seldom that I am able to provide a conversation that will be needed by nearly every family at some point in their lives.  I am blessed to have had this intimate end-of-life conversation with two medical providers who have answered the very important calling of working in hospice care. My guests are: Dr. Larry Skendzel - Medical Director, Gundersen Hospice and Dr. Jasmine Hudnall - Department Chair: Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Medical Director: Advance Care Planning department, Gundersen Health System.  Following this audio outline, resource links are provided. 02:50 – Hospice: As a noun is it a person, a place or a thing? 07:00 – Young age hospice compared to elderly end-of-life care. 09:00 – Letting go, on our own schedule – Individual mysteries. 12:30 – Rewards of working as a medical caregiver. 14:45 – Bettering the quality of life. 18:00 – What improvements can be made? 20:00 – Death at home or in a facility. 21:00 – Four levels of Hospice care. 23:15 – Who makes-up the team? 26:15 – Religious faith and personal spirituality. 28:15 – Volunteers. 30:15 – Covid's effect on Hospice. 32:35 – Fear of Hospice. 36:30 – Who pays the costs? 40:30 – Initiating the hospice conversation. 43:00 – How are Doctors trained? 46:25 – Has medical training changed? 49:45 – What do you wish your patients knew? 51:45 – Hospice verses Palliative medicine. 55:40 – Where do I find more information? 57:00 – Additional online Resources. 57:30 – A typical day as a hospice doctor. Additional Resources:

Getting into oncology requires a lot of education and training. How does one deal with the success and stress of such a journey? In Part Two of this ASCO Education Podcast, moderator Dr. Aakash Desai – fellow at the Mayo Clinic along with guests Dr. Madison Conces – fellow at Cleveland Clinic, and Hematology/Oncology fellowship program directors Dr. Lori J. Rosenstein (Gundersen Health System) and Dr. Deepa Rangachari (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) explore the past, present, and future of Oncology Training. They discuss the transition from training to clinical practice (1:02), how to stay current with new treatments and guidelines (6:39) and what oncology training should look like in the future (12:12). Resources: ASCO Education Podcast: Cancer Topics - Burnout in Oncology: Trainee Perspective ASCO Education Podcast: Cancer Topics – Career Paths in Oncology (Part 1) ASCO Education Podcast: Cancer Topics – Career Paths in Oncology (Part 2) If you liked this episode, please subscribe. Learn more at education.asco.org, or email us at education@asco.org. TRANSCRIPT  Dr. Deepa Rangachari: I think really this idea of what I call work-life negotiation, is present very much during training, and one continues to be very present in your ongoing clinical practice. Aakash Desai: Hello, everyone, this is Dr. Aakash Desai, I am currently a Hematology and Oncology fellow at Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, and this is part two of our discussion on the past, present, and future of Oncology training. My guests are, Dr. Madison Conces, Hematology/Oncology fellow at Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Lori Rosenstein, Hematology, and Oncology Fellowship Program Director, at Gundersen Health System, and Dr. Deepa Rangachari, Fellowship Program Director, at Fellowship Program Director, at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. In part one, we gave our insight into what motivated us to get into Oncology, along with spotlighting the rewards and stresses of going through fellowship. Today, we're going to look at what the future of Oncology should look like. But first, I and my guests will explore the challenges of transitioning from training to clinical practice in Oncology. Lori, gives us her answer. Dr. Lori Rosenstein: You know, I think part of it is, you are in that final stage, this is the rest of your life. So, I think a lot of my fellows feel like when they're leaving fellowship, they have to find the perfect job, because it's where they're going to be for the rest of their life, and I think everybody who is out in practice knows that it's very unlikely you stay in the first job out of fellowship. And so, having less stress on yourself, of finding that perfect experience, I think, finding an experience that fits with your goals and aspirations, and what you see your life being like, is good enough. And then if you go there, and it turns out it's not a great situation for you, feeling free to go somewhere else, that's a different paradigm than I think fellows expect. They put so much stress on themselves. We're all type-A people, right? And you just want to make the right choice.  I've now had a couple of jobs. Each of them was the right choice for me at the time, and each of them taught me really important lessons that I have carried on to my next role. When I started my first job out of fellowship, I had no idea medical education was going to be a huge part of my life and career. I like to teach - that was what I knew about myself, but as I got more involved in medical education as a career, as a research opportunity, as probably the most important part of what I do in work, it changed where I was going to go. It changed what I ended up doing. You know, I ended up as a program director, and when I talked to my fellows and I say, you know, my job is research and taking care of patients, and teaching, and then medical education. To me, medical education is at the top, and that would not have been what I said as I left fellowship. So, having that openness to say, "I'm going to take in experiences and continue to grow and develop," is huge. Aakash Desai: Madison, what challenges do you think you are going to have to face when you start clinical practice from training? Dr. Madison Conces: I think for me right now, the main things on my mind are making sure I have the support I need after I graduate. I don't think I'll be abandoned anywhere, but I just want to make sure I join a supportive practice. And I think the second kind of big stress on my mind is doing research as a staff. Obviously, have mentorship, but as a fellow, I feel like there's a little bit more of a structure maybe with that, and so again, I'm not sure how that will be as a staff, but you'll be kind of more of the PI right on the project rather than a co-PI necessarily, and kind of going with patient care, like all the details, and making sure all T's are crossed and I's are dotted, and I know I'll be ready when it's time, but I just feel like it's kind of always in the back of my mind, like that it's coming - exciting, and I think one thing I try to reflect on, is I have made it; I'm literally the 10th year of my medical training. If I've made it this far, and I have problem solved, and helped patients, and worked as a team, and been a leader when I needed t0 this far, then I have to have faith that I can figure it out as a staff as well. Aakash Desai: Deepa, can you answer next? Dr. Deepa Rangachari: Couple of recurring themes: one, appreciating the interdisciplinary nature of the care that we give, and just recognizing that the need for help, whether it's help with regard to clinical decision making, or intuition, or best practice, or the need for help just in terms of supporting the needs of your patients, those things never, ever go away. That sort of segues very nicely into this idea of consistent and ongoing rapidity of the growth and knowledge that doesn't end when you come out of fellowship. Those things continue to evolve and change well after your fellowship training. You need to know when and how, and who to ask for help. You also need to develop paradigms for lifelong learning. What will it mean to you to be a learner during career span journey, where not only will the knowledge change, but the way in which you access that knowledge will change? And I think those are important things to recognize as challenges of making us transition. I think really this idea of what I call work-life negotiation is present very much during training, and one continues to be very present in your ongoing clinical practice. And what I mean by work-life negotiation is, on any given day or any given week, or any given month, the way in which you organize these relative priorities at home and at work certainly can change dramatically. And this idea that you can be in charge of refining, and reorganizing, and defining, and turning up or down the dial at home or at work, according to what's going on in your life, is very important to recognize, and so, I think that idea of paying attention to the need to continue to negotiate those factors on a regular basis is something that is very important as you transition from training to clinical practice. I would not go so far as to say that it necessarily ever becomes easier, but I absolutely think it becomes more manageable for two main reasons; one, you have more control over your career and your life as you move from training to practice, and two-- and I think we should be open and honest about this, you have more resources to do so - whether there's financial resources, or supportive resources. But both of those things, I think, make it more manageable, even if the challenges never go away. Aakash Desai: And now we'll move on to the next question. I think this is a question I think most fellows have in mind because they realize that as and when they go out to clinical practice, the treatments you learned during fellowship and what ends up happening when you're actually interactive, there's going to be a lot of difference because of all the new updates, and the new drugs, and others that come out. But how do you stay current with new treatments and guidelines, and what would you advise current fellows and future Oncologists, the resources to use for these kinds of updates? So, Madison, I'll start with you. Dr. Madison Conces: That's a tough question, I think because some groups, the field is changing so fast. I would say if I'm dealing with something I've not seen before, or I don't know in depth as much as maybe, you know, GI malignancies, which is mostly my interest right now, we'll start out with the NCCN guidelines, and I'm well aware there are plenty of people who don't follow those verbatim and all of that, and there is some interpretation with those, but at least, it gives you a structure to work with. And so, I like to start there, and they usually have at least updated, you know, genetic mutations and some drugs that are, you know, used for those mutations, and so any targeted therapy might be listed on that guidelines. And so, I usually start there and then go beyond there. I mean, I'm obviously talking in a very general sense here, because patients with a really rare cancer, you're just going to have to read up more and look at case reports, you know, see if there's any recent trials. That's kind of where I start, and I just kind of read from there. It's almost like a trickle-down effect in a way. Dr. Lori Rosenstein: So, Madison, I think that is also where I start - NCCN guidelines, up to date, those sorts of things. I will tell you that as I have gone along, I have become much more likely to phone a friend than I used to be. I used to be, as a fellow, like, "I'm not going to call that person." I still remember, as a fellow, I called somebody at MD Anderson to ask about Mantle Cell lymphoma, and he was absolutely lovely, but I was petrified. I was like, "Oh, he's going to think I'm an idiot, and why am I calling him?" Now, I know that people are out there and they're experts for a reason, and they're experts because they want to share their expertise, and it's very rare that someone is just completely not interested in helping you. But reaching out, I think there's lots of ways on social media that you can reach out, and my fellows, they think I'm silly because I tell them, "Look what I just found on Twitter." Like, if you're following the right people on Twitter, and people who you trust their opinions, and you know they're experts in their fields, and they say, "Hey, I was just at ESMO, and here's the slide from what I think is really important." That helps guide me to like, "Hey, this is something." Now, obviously, social media is what it is, and you have to take it with a grain of salt - I try not to trust complete strangers, but at least it leads me to new articles that I wouldn't necessarily have seen. Currently, on my desk, I probably have about 30 "Bloods" because I just am so behind in looking through those, so, knowing that someone who I know in Hematology said, "Hey, this is a really great review article on X, Y, or Z," I'm texting that to my fellows at night when that comes across Twitter. And likewise, there's some really good groups on Facebook that are specifically for Hem/Onc, that provide support, you know who the experts are, they're willing to help. ASCO and ASH both have ‘phone a friends' where you can present difficult cases and MedNet -- I have no financial disclosures for any of these, by the way. MedNet is a really interesting ‘phone a friends' where you can put in a question around a general concept with a clinical case, and get experts in the field to reply back. So, all of those things, I'm much more likely to do now, than I was when I was a fellow, just because I'm now less concerned that people would think I don't know what I'm doing; I'm much more likely to say, "Hey, I don't know what I'm doing, and I need help in this situation." Aakash Desai: That is so great to hear because social media really has become one of the primary sources of updates that we get. It's definitely not the ideal resource, but I think in a fast-paced world, I think having a few things on updates, I think definitely has been very helpful. How about you, Deepa? What are your thoughts on this? Dr. Deepa Rangachari: Yeah, being, staying current, it's really a challenge and I think lifelong learning is often interpreted as sort of like being willing to continue to learn over time. The trickiest thing about this is learning how to adapt the ways in which you learn over time, and so, I'm a very pen-and-paper sort of a person, I've had to really learn how to be savvy with using digital resources. I keep a very brisk PDF library of key literature, not only that I like to read and save to re-review myself, but also in terms of a lot of the teaching, and presentations, and talks, that I'm invited to give. And so, I think I've gone from a very pen-and-paper modality, and I still have the notebooks that I kept during my residency and fellowship training, and I still remember at the quarter left hand of a page, I wrote something that I really wanted to remember, but I've had to move away from that because I can't be walking around with pen and notebooks all the time. And so, I've developed PDF libraries and things that are available leveraging the technological support provided by my institution to maintain things on the cloud. I've incorporated podcasts into my lengthy commute time to, and from work, to sort of have a chance to keep up. And I think the honest truth is that everybody has to develop a system, and you have to be willing to be flexible and iterative with that system, and modify it, and grow it as time goes along. So, I don't have any simple equation for this other than a willingness to recognize the importance of being organized, and a willingness to be willing to change as the ways in which we learn and get information change, and a willingness to ask - that's the most important thing, is to be willing to ask others, and have others in your realm, who you know and trust, and can get candid and accurate answers from. Aakash Desai: So, now I have a very simple question, I think, to which you'll all have to give straightforward answers: What do you think Oncology training should look like in the future? What are your thoughts, Deepa? Dr. Deepa Rangachari: I think two of the things that we really have to acknowledge are; one, it has never been possible, nor will it be possible in the future, to think that three years of clinical training can prepare you for all of the questions, and nuances, and advancements that our discipline is fortunate to witness, or that we are fortunate to be a part of, and contribute to. So, really, fellowship training then has to be about developing a very rigorous infrastructure for critical thinking, and lifelong learning, and recognizing general frameworks and scripts for illness, and wellness, and therapeutic intervention, and understanding when are moments to push, and when are moments to sort of take a step back, and sort of revisit or refine the care trajectory along with our patients. I think that's one thing - sort of really just acknowledging there's no way we're going to be able to train people to see everything and know everything, so to really make sure that our training programs provide each trainee, and the program at large, with that sort of rigorous infrastructure and framework for thinking about complex problems, and really for working in complex interdisciplinary teams. I think the second thing that conceptually, I think, training program leaders should be thinking about is, helping make connections between different disease entities so that we're not training folks to think in disease-specific silos, but really think about emphasizing concepts that are shared across disease entities; thinking about making connections between common disease biologies, and things that may be similar or different, rather than memorizing a series of therapeutic pathways in stage III non-small cell lung cancer versus locally advanced breast cancer, versus early stage pancreatic cancer, but really thinking, what are the things that these different disease entities, at the biological level, or at the care coordination level, what are the things that are similar or different? I think this serves a couple of different things. From a learning science perspective, it sort of reinforces what we know are effective strategies for knowledge acquisition and retention, but I think also part of our obligation as training program leaders, is to make sure that we're training people to be thought leaders and innovators in their respective clinical and scholarly domains, and that really requires a lot of cross pollination of ideas - what is something that we know works well in lung cancer? How might that same way of thinking or science be applied to a patient in breast cancer? And how could we use those insights to innovate across different diseases? And I think a lot of this comes down to just acknowledging that this finite amount of training time will never be enough to fully expose people to every aspect of the breadth and depth of the discipline, let alone, how we're practicing now, or even thinking about the future. And so, really thinking about making sure that training programs create paradigms of thinking and collaborating, and lifelong learning that will go the distance rather than just emphasizing very specific content. Aakash Desai: Lori, what are your thoughts on this? Dr. Lori Rosenstein: From my standpoint, I think if I could totally change fellowship-- the thing that I'm most worried about with my fellows is trying to have all the medical knowledge for Hem and Onc by the time you finish three years. ACGME is so useful, as a program director, to help me guide what I need to be helping my fellows learn during that time. But for any of you who are program directors all know, there continues to be more and more things that we need to show that we're doing - we need to show that we're teaching our fellows multidisciplinary approaches to care of patients, they need to know about patient safety and quality improvement, they need to do research, they need to have all this medical knowledge. And as more and more things kind of come on the plate of what we need to turn out in three years, and more and more knowledge is out there, it becomes this point where we're not going to be able to do that. And if I had my choice, I would drop the medical knowledge part of knowing every esoteric drug mechanism and pathway, and having testing for that, and more, can we prove that they can critically think and take care of patients who are very complex? It's hard to test on that, and it's hard to just check that box and say, "Complete." But when you're a program director, and you're working very closely with fellows during that three years, you learn that - is this someone you want to take care of your patients or not? And they may be extremely able to take tests and answer questions correctly, and still not the Hem/Onc doctor that we would want them to be. In general, I would just say, less and less emphasis on test taking, and you know, regurgitating medical knowledge, and more and more emphasis on, where can you find the knowledge, and how do you apply it? Aakash Desai: So, as currently the programs are structured, I think most programs in the country are dual Hem and Onc boarded. Some programs do allow for single boarding, but I guess I want to ask thoughts on the future. There'll be more and more programs who will opt for singular boarding Hem or Onc, rather than a dual board. Dr. Lori Rosenstein: Yeah, so this is Lori. I think that single boarding is extremely challenging with the way our healthcare structure is laid out. So, you know, we all have to be very realistic that most of our fellows are going to leave fellowship, and are going to practice both Hematology and Oncology, and they're going to take care of the broad spectrum of all of those diseases. And in order to do so, their hospital is going to require they're credentialed, and certified in both of those. So, I think if we start to either only have Hem, or only have Onc, people are going to have extended training, and it's going to become less and less attractive. It's already a really long slog to be a medical oncologist and hematologist, and making that longer, I really don't think it's the way to go. Aakash Desai: Madison? Dr. Madison Conces: I'll jump back to the prior question of where do I see fellowship training in the future. I definitely think that the critical thinking aspect will still be there. I think there'll have to be more of an emphasis on thinking through patient care, and not so much the regurgitation medical knowledge of memorization. I think, you know, core lectures, like I'm sure a lot of fellowships we do here, which I think are really important to have, maybe at the beginning of the year, just to kind of lay out the basics for first-year fellows, but I think beyond that, doing case conferences where it's not crystal clear what even the subject is going to be and walking through it, and making people answer questions even in more of an interactive manner is another way we could go about the conferences. Other than maybe some very obvious information, I think a lot of this we just need to make sure we know how to find it - like we've already mentioned the NCCN, up to date, I think probably a lot of us got used to doing some of that in residency, in terms of where to find information. We've all been-- I think most people who are in fellowship right now have trained through all their training with computer and the internet, so you know, I think a lot of us are very familiar with it. Aakash Desai: Yeah, I think completely agree. And I think, you know like Lori mentioned, fellowship should be more than just preparing for Boards. And especially, I think as we move on in our fellowships Madison, and I think I've realized that you know, to know what your blind spots are and when to ask for help is also a critical part of actually training during fellowship. And I think as I come towards the end of my fellowship journey, I think I've realized now that it's a continuation of a longer journey. You know, three years is just the tip of the iceberg, and there's obviously a whole lot of you know, things that I'm going to see in the future. So, that, to me, I think in the future, needs to be kind of emphasized for the fellows to kind of really be okay with the idea of not knowing it all at the end of three years. And as we've geared more towards-- and we talked a little bit about work-life negotiation rather than balance, I think will be also very important. Thank you. I think those are phenomenal points, and I really appreciate everyone's time today. So, that is all what we have for today. Thank you so much, Dr. Conces, Rangachari, an Dr. Rosenstein, for this candid and vivacious conversation on Oncology training. I'm sure our listeners will appreciate and be able to relate to many of the personal anecdotes that you've shared, and the insights that you have shared today. Thank you also to our listeners, we appreciate you tuning in to this episode of the ASCO Education podcast. Thank you for listening to the ASCO Education podcast. To stay up to date with the latest episodes, please click, "subscribe". Let us know what you think by leaving a review. For more information, visit the Comprehensive Education Center at: education.asco.org. The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. This is not a substitute for professional medical care and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of individual conditions. Guests on this podcast express their own opinions, experience, and conclusions. Guest statements on the podcast do not express the opinions of ASCO. The mention of any product, service, organization, activity, or therapy, should not be construed as an ASCO endorsement.  

Michael chats with Dr. Jeff Thompson, former CEO of Gundersen Health System, pediatrician, and author of Lead True: Live Your Values, Build Your People, Inspire Your Community; and Dr. Urvashi Bhatnagar, healthcare executive and co-author of The Sustainability Scorecard: How to Implement And Profit From Unexpected Solutions. Jeff led strategic sustainability initiatives during his time at Gundersen, which has been nationally recognized for boosting quality and lowering costs, while seeing a 95% drop in greenhouse gas emissions. He was also honored by the White House as a champion for change and has served as the board chair of Healthcare Without Harm. Urvashi, who holds an MBA from Yale University and a doctorate in physical therapy from Boston University, has forged a career spanning clinical care, research, advocacy, and strategy and operations consulting for leading healthcare organizations. Her work addresses breaking down barriers to care, advancing health equity, and improving access to quality care for all. In this episode, Jeff and Urvashi talk about sustainability's importance in healthcare systems, how providers can lead sustainability efforts and combat climate change, some promising and exciting decarbonization initiatives and innovations, and much more. This episode is sponsored by The Sustainability Scorecard: How to Implement And Profit From Unexpected Solutions by Drs. Paul Anastas and Urvashi Bhatnagar. The Sustainability Scorecard: How to Implement And Profit From Unexpected Solutions: www.amazon.com/Sustainability-Scorecard-Implement-Unexpected-Solutions/dp/1523093781  Lead True: Live Your Values, Build Your People, Inspire Your Community: https://www.amazon.com/Lead-True-Values-Inspire-Community/dp/1946633011

Getting into oncology requires a lot of education and training. How does one deal with the success and stress of such a journey? In Part One of this ASCO Education Podcast, moderator Dr. Aakash Desai – fellow at the Mayo Clinic along with guests Dr Madison Conces – Hem/Onc Fellow at Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Lori J. Rosenstein, Hematology and Oncology fellowship program director at Gundersen Health System and Dr. Deepa Rangachari, fellowship program director explore the past, present and future of Oncology Training. They discuss their motivation of pursuing oncology (1:55), the rewards (5:51) and the stresses (8:44) of fellowship, coping with the loss of a patient (12:52) along with methods to keep up with advances in the field (19:50). TRANSCRIPT Dr. Lori Rosenstein: What I learned in fellowship is completely different than what I know now. And I passed the Boards, I did well on the Boards, I stressed about them, but the Boards do not define who you are as a cancer doctor; they are just a step along the way. And so, really, I am much happier if a fellow has that thought process and that self-reflection and knowledge of what they do and do not know; they're going to be amazing when they're done. Dr. Aakash Desai: Hello, and welcome to the ASCO Education podcast. My name is Aakash Desai, and I'm a Hematology/Oncology fellow at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. I will moderate this episode focusing on how Oncology training has changed in the last couple of decades. Do you think today's fellows have it easier with the electronic medical records, or is it rather harder with that? Given the much bigger pool of treatments to choose from and the constant stream of information, is it more difficult for Oncology fellows in this day and age? On a personal level, what challenges persist? How might we reimagine Oncology training in the future? To discuss all these questions and more, I'm joined by current Oncology fellow Dr. Madison Conces from Cleveland Clinic and two former fellows; Dr. Lori Rosenstein, a Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program Director at Gundersen Health Systems in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and Dr. Deepa Rangachari, a Medical Oncologist, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Director of Hematology/Oncology Graduate Medical Education at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. As we are all colleagues, I'm going to refer to everyone by their first names, if that is okay. And so, I'm going to pose my first question to Madison. Question is, what motivated you to get into Medicine and specialize in Oncology? And then, I will have Lori and Deepa answer the same. Dr. Madison Conces: Thank you, Aakash, for having me join this conversation today. So, I'll kind of answer the Medicine and Hematology/Oncology portion at the same time. I was in college when I actually was shadowing Dr. Pat Loehrer at IU over the summer, and I worked in the lab while also doing clinic with him one day a week. And I think being able to see the science and working to improve patient care while also witnessing the patient interactions, and the relationships, and the trust between the physician and the patient, is something I really admired, and that really drew me. So, I think that's kind of when it first sparked. And then, just during residency in medical school, my recurrent interactions with Oncology patients is what kind of definitively made me go that route. Dr. Aakash Desai: Lori? Dr. Lori Rosenstein: So, I was a little bit slow to figure out what I wanted; I thought Neurology or Internal Medicine, and then I had no plans after that, and I really debated a long time. You know, ultimately, now that I'm a Hematologist-- and this totally makes sense with my personality and everything else, what I love about Hematology is the mystery and the detective work that happens. It also happens in Neurology. That's what I liked was figuring out where the lesion was based on your exam. But in Hematology, we figure out where the lesion is, and then often, we can fix it. And to me, that was really exciting. So, I joke with my fellows all the time that I'm a blood detective, and the best thing ever happened yesterday - is that one of my fellows knocked on my door, and she came in, and she said, "Today, I'm a blood detective. I figured this out." And it's super cool. I think that's a really fun part about Hematology and Oncology. Dr. Aakash Desai: How about you, Deepa? What are your thoughts on this? Dr. Deepa Rangachari: My inspirations mimic those shared by my colleagues already today. At a very young age, a very dear family friend whose mother is a Pediatric Hematologist/ Oncologist, and I think I was immediately enthralled by her demeanor. And later in life, as a medical student, I had the opportunity to shadow her and really see her in action. And I think she really embodied all of the things that I always considered in terms of being a consummate physician. And I think, on a daily basis, what inspired me to become an oncologist is, really, what to this very day holds me deeply, devotedly to this lifelong career which is the ability to exhaust and frankly apply all of my intellectual, emotional, and interpersonal skills to achieve the best possible outcome for a patient and their loved ones in what is often very challenging and/or devastating circumstance. The inspiration, in many regards, from years ago is the ongoing inspiration. Even today, I'm very much informed by early experiences, seeing such folks practice in a way that I felt was truly the art and science of Medicine. Dr. Aakash Desai: I guess the next question I would want to ask both of you is: What is the most rewarding part of the fellowship? Lori? Dr. Lori Rosenstein: I hate to say this; I'm the oldest one of the group here, so I've been here the longest since I did my fellowship. But I will say, the best part of being a Heme/Onc doctor is the longitudinal relationships that you develop with those patients over time and the difference that you make in people's lives in the really short amount of time that sometimes you're with them. I think fellowship-- we'll talk later about the stresses and difficulties of fellowship - but knowing that you're in that final stage, you know, everything up until fellowship is, "I'm doing this to do the next thing. I'm doing this to do the next thing." There is really not a next thing after fellowship. That is what you're going to do. And I think that's the most exciting part - everything you're doing is for that purpose. You know, once you pass the Boards. Dr. Madison Conces: I agree with what Lori just said, and I think as someone who's in their final-- I'm a third-year Heme/Onc fellow right now, and I would agree where you're just like, "This is it. This is what I am going to do for the rest of my life." And there's excitement with that, there is some little bit of anxiety, I guess, under it, but there's a lot of excitement with it, and I think-- like when I sit and talk with patients now, I know we keep kind of reiterating a human connection, but I feel like at least as a fellow now, I'm able to explain things or understand things in a way I didn't before. And I feel like that makes me even more connected in their care, and also in a way kind of, I wouldn't say I understand, because I'm not in their position, but I'm able to, I feel like, meet them closer to the middle than I was before. So, I really appreciate that, I guess, growth I've had during fellowship, that's allowed me to, I think, be closer with patients and their journey. Dr. Lori Rosenstein: Madison, this is Lori. So, I was just going to ask based on that; I see externally as my fellows are going through their training, there's usually just this moment where I can suddenly see that it's kind of clicking, and, you know, the hardness of first becoming a fellow all of a sudden, starts to get easier; and they really start to fly - they start to do fantastically. Do you remember if that was something that you experienced? Dr. Madison Conces: So, I was on Oncology consults August of my first year of fellowship, and I am September of my third year of fellowship. And I just noticed how quick I can be. Like in July, I was like, "Oh my gosh, I'm a third year. How am I going to be ready for next year?" But now that I'm on Oncology consults, again, seeing every type of solid tumor malignancy, specifically for solid tumors, obviously, but I see the pace I'm going compared to before; I know the depth of knowledge I have is much greater, I kind of am more aware of my deficits of knowledge. So, I would say, just even in the past week, I've noticed, like, "Wow, I've definitely gotten better." I don't know if I'd call that an aha moment, but I've definitely had that perception of myself in the past week. Dr. Aakash Desai: Yeah. I think, as a third-year fellow myself, I agree. I think that's, you know, very rewarding. Essentially, recently, I was giving a talk to our first-year fellows as a primer talk on lung cancer. And, you know, I realized like some of this comes so naturally to me now, and I remember myself being a newly-minted, first-year fellow, and just thinking like, "How am I ever going to make sense of all this data and everything that's coming out?" That's also, I think, the part of the personal growth - you grow as a fellow. I think it's also very rewarding, as the fellow that I've found. So, with that, I think one other thing that's been, you know, obviously, more recently brought out is resident burnout, fellow burnout. Just in general, position burnout has been the theme, and we are becoming very aware of this. And I think fellowship, being the training, it obviously has its own stressors. So, what are the most stressful aspects of fellowship that you've found? Tell us about the most stressful day you've had so far and how do you cope with stress and workload. And any tools or strategies that you would recommend to current fellows and other peers that would be useful. Dr. Madison Conces: I would say, probably, it's twofold in terms of what's most stressful about fellowship; one is the information which you had already mentioned, Aakash, and I think with that, is kind of the research aspect and balancing that. Like, how do we dive into research and look into spaces that are unknown, if you will, and then at the same time, know the data of the cancers we're already treating? I think the outpatient stressors are different from the inpatient stressors in a way because I think during inpatient, you're constantly engaged in these difficult situations patients are in, and there's not much of a break. And so, I think sometimes, not that we don't have difficult clinic days, but I think there can be a little bit more emotional drainage, and I think, in terms of trying to deal with that stress, like you mentioned-- I'm a distance runner. And so, even when I'm on service, I actually still make time for a run, even if it's just a quick run in the evening, or get it in before work if I'm on call that night, or something, sometimes just some light weights. That's been my crutch, if you will. I've done that all my medical training; I've been running for most of my life. And I've been very deliberate and diligent about continuing that, and I think, somehow, it kept my head above water some days. I do wonder what else I could do to help because I definitely have days where I feel like my running isn't enough. I think, as many people have felt since the COVID pandemic started, there's been a real struggle with burnout. Dr. Aakash Desai: Lori? Dr. Lori Rosenstein: Yeah. I think there's a lot that's stressful about Heme/Onc fellowship, and as a Program Director, you see the cycle. You know, first-year fellow comes in; they're brand new. That first six months, as I said previously, is just so, so hard, and you, as a program director, want to help. You know you want to get them through that. Because, you know, many people are coming in, it's a new hospital, it's a new system, it's new diseases, it's working in the clinic instead of the hospital-- most Internal Medicines are very, very hospital-focused. And then all of a sudden, you're in a clinic where it's almost all outpatients, and you don't know how that works, even though you should. You know, like people think, "I could be an internist; I could be done.” And yet all of a sudden, I'm right back at the bottom of the barrel, so to speak. You know, not knowing how to do anything. And so, that first six months for sure is really stressful because you feel like you've had autonomy; when you're a third-year resident, you're ready to go out, and then boom, you don't know what you're doing again. And so, at the same time, you are a young adult who often is having families, thinking about settling down, buying homes, you know, growing up, and that just adds to all of the stress because you have the stress at work, and then potentially, stress at home. For me, I had my first child when I was a resident and then had my second as a third-year fellow. And so, I had these different stresses as I was going through my training. You know, some of my fellows have had parents die while they've been in fellowship or parents that they're helping to take care of. So, not only are us older people in kind of the sandwich generation, but I think younger people in fellowship are seeing that as well. So, yeah, I think there's a lot going on that can make it challenging. But my encouraging part of it is that it gets easier. You start to figure out where you can find the information that you need, how to make things happen, and there's just this tipping point where suddenly it becomes easier, and then I see that they're back having fun again. You know, that, "Oh, this is such a really interesting disease, and I've never seen this presentation before, and I looked in the literature, and there's only three cases." You know, that passion and that excitement for finding new things, or, you know, "I wasn't sure if this chemo was going to work, and I gave it, and they're back today, and they are so much better." Just that excitement and passion. It's so wonderful to see as a program director. Dr. Aakash Desai: The other thing is also; I feel like the stresses are different as you kind of evolve through your fellowships. So, I think, as Lori very rightly pointed out, like the first year is, you know, just getting used to the information, the flow, and everything. But what I've found particularly challenging is, as you enter the second and the third year, and when you have patients that you continue to follow, just by the nature of the disease and the field that we are in, you will end up having some patients who you lose along the way. And I think that dealing with it emotionally; I think because during the first two years of your fellowship, you know, you meet them every few weeks, you kind of get attached to them, and you know what their life is like, you share part of your life with them. How have you found your way of coping with loss of the patients that you kind of have a deep connection with? I think that's part of the stressful aspect of, like, later years of your fellowship, I feel. Any insights on that, Lori? I mean, you've obviously been doing this much longer than me and Madison. How do you deal with this kind of loss and keep going every day, even with the same enthusiasm? Dr. Lori Rosenstein: Yeah. I think that absolutely is a really challenging part of our field, but it's also part of the blessing of our field - is that we are there, and we can help negotiate people through difficult times. And if we're doing this well, we have seen this coming. We have been able to prepare people; we've been able to make sure that we're honoring the things that are important to them at the end of life, and we're working to make sure they're not in pain and that they have their family members near them. And so, for me, that's always that rainbow at the end - is that I was able to assist them in this process. We all know we can't stop death. We may, you know, fool ourselves into thinking this carbo/etoposide is going to change the world for this patient. But I think being realistic about what we can and cannot do. For me, having a great conversation with a patient and their family and knowing that I've helped them, even if the end result is not that they have another 20 years to live, is super meaningful. And I think most oncologists that can do this for a long time find the value and the meaning in that part of their job. I think if you're constantly trying to stop death and trying to, like continue chemo till the very bitter end, this could be a very draining job. Dr. Aakash Desai: You know, and more and more, we are realizing the importance of supportive care in Oncology. And I think what you just pointed out is that, you know, improving someone's quality of life, even for two months, is also very rewarding in its own way. So, thank you for saying that. The next question I have is especially geared towards you and Deepa for fellowship program directors: How has Oncology training changed since you were a fellow? And is training for current fellows harder or easier do you think? Dr. Lori Rosenstein: You know, any program director who trained a long time ago will give you the woes of, you know, ‘I had to walk both ways with no boots in the snow'. I think that probably the biggest change since I was a resident is work-hour restrictions, which came sometime during my residency. So, I was a fellow when there were work-hour restrictions. But to be very honest, in fellowship, you almost never are reaching that 80-hour work week like you would've been when you were on an ICU rotation in Internal Medicine. Most of my fellows, you know, they log their hours every week, and we're somewhere around 40 to 45 hours a week, depending, you know, there's going to be times where it's busier. So, I think the work hours are less of an issue, but that doesn't mean it's easier. And I think now, the most difficult challenge is, all the new treatments, all of the options-- it used to be-- we had two choices; you could do this, or you could do this. And now, there's all these nuances, and nuances are very challenging when you're first learning. You know, you can see this study, and it was this compared to this, and option A was better. But then you would talk to your attending, and they say, "Well, option A was better unless you were from some esoteric country," and then you know you did worse. So, you start to really piece apart, and you know, you gain your basic understanding, but then start to try to apply that to your patients. And that is, I think, a very big challenge. Dr. Aakash Desai: How about you, Deepa? What are your thoughts on this? Dr. Deepa Rangachari: I think it's become harder in that it has become incredibly more nuanced than incredibly more sophisticated. Three things, in particular, come to mind; one's are the burgeoning evidence basis for what we do and the prospects for advancing our knowledge and understanding and thereby have better interventions that's certainly been a seemingly explosive growth in our knowledge and understanding, especially considering the humble origins of our field. They work daily with colleagues and friends who remember those days when Heme/Onc was sort of an esoteric field of people whose methods were considered bizarre at best, and that's absolutely not where we are anymore. It's an incredibly exciting time, so a lot of information to keep up with. Secondly, one of the things that maybe we didn't really appreciate at the time was true before but is increasingly true now is the importance of recognizing your role as the leader of a very sophisticated interdisciplinary team. Thankfully, I think this is true for all patients with any illness, but thankfully, in our disease area, care by an expert village is really the new norm, not the exception. And sort of learning how to function in those interdisciplinary teams in an incredibly collaborative and productive way across the spectrum of a patient's care and needs is incredibly nuanced, more so than ever before. And something that fellows, at the earliest instance of their training, really need to learn to be agile with. So, I think that's something that is also both a sign of progress, but also an added layer of nuance and sophistication. And I think the final thing is that there are so many diverse ways in which someone can have it truly impactful and fulfilling career within Heme/Onc, and I think this makes fellowship also that much more exciting and complicated, nuanced, really trying to understand within your career span, what is the pathway or the different pathways, honestly, that you may choose to train and prepare for and conduct yourself is really dizzying. And I think we really are expecting a lot in terms of our fellows these days to sort of be willing to understand those options and understand which options are most meaningful to them and then prepare in a very deliberate and rigorous way for those specific career interests. So, kudos to all of you. You guys are doing an incredible job; you are the future of our field. And those of us who run programs, direct such programs, we really have a continued challenge and inspiration to meet your needs. Dr. Aakash Desai: The field is moving so fast that I can say, like when I joined fellowship in first year compared to now, I think there is a lot more treatment options. And I think as fellows also, it's so difficult to keep up with this, you know, constant stream of information. So, Madison, how do you think things have changed since you joined fellowship, and how do you envision yourself, you know, resources to use to kind of keep yourself updated? Dr. Madison Conces: I would agree with both of you. It's definitely changed. It's also interesting because it's not always the addition of treatments; it's sometimes showing that adding this extra drug does nothing. And so, all of a sudden, you've now changed the paradigm again for how you treat that patient. And I think for me, what I've found during fellowship is-- and maybe Lori would enjoy this part, but the thinking of it, right? So, even Hematology, I definitely think of as the puzzle, but in general, all these patients, there's something about them, whether their tumor's genetics, or the family history, or any of their germline mutations they have. So, there's always this kind of; every patient is very specific. And so, I think what has helped me, at least during fellowship, is in clinic, to go through that, in that mindset with the staff I'm working with. And I think sometimes, at least, I've been fortunate to have staff who do a great job of making sure I'm thinking of everything, which is like, "Oh, if this doesn't work, what are you going to do next?", which makes me think about, "Well, what do we know about the patient? What do we know about their tumor? What are the other options?" I'm someone who learns by doing, which I think is many of us at this point, and so, I think the constant feedback from staff of kind of pushing us to think on our own is going to be helpful in the long term, rather than expecting us to come in remembering, you know, every part of the NCCN guidelines, because those are going to change as well. So, we've really got to be able to think through these patients' cases like puzzles, and also, you know, a lot of these patients don't read these textbooks a lot of times. Lori was talking about seeing the excitement of her fellows. Again, you know, yesterday I saw a patient who has paraneoplastic nephrotic syndrome. It's like these things; we have to be able to keep pace with essentially our patients in their pathophysiology. And the more we learn, the more kind of breath that's going to be. It's going to be wider and wider in terms of what we have to know, and I'm not sure knowing it all is going to be the way to go. And for me, I try to know the basics, and then beyond that, really look at the patient. And instead of thinking about every treatment for that whatever cancer of the patient, look at, "What do we already know about it, and what can I go from there?" Dr. Lori Rosenstein: That's so interesting, Madison. And Deepa and I had talked about this; you know, as program directors, my goal for fellows is that they learn how to think about cancer, and how to have a really regimented way of going through a new patient, and thinking through, "Do I have the diagnosis? Do I have the stage? Based on those things, what do I know about the patient and their disease to make my treatment plan?" And that's the same for every cancer. Essentially, you're going through this regimented process. If I have a fellow that I know can think through a cancer, to me, it doesn't matter if they know that Merkel cell is associated with the Merkel polyomavirus virus. They may never see a Merkel cell, or they may see it once. So, that regurgitation of information that you are so used to doing for Boards and for tests, to a program director, is really so much less important than, "Can you think through the process? Can you find the own holes in your knowledge base? And then, can you find where to fill those holes so that you can take great care of patients?" If I could tell any first-year fellow coming in, don't panic about your knowledge base because what I learned in fellowship is completely different than what I know now. And I did well on the Boards, I stressed about them, but the Boards do not define who you are as a cancer doctor. They are just a step along the way. And so, really, I am much happier if a fellow has that thought process, and that self-reflection, and knowledge of what they do and do not know; they're going to be amazing when they're done. Dr. Aakash Desai: This kind of reflects how the program directors in our field actually, you know, are thinking beyond just like, "Oh, you need to score good on the Boards," because they realize the importance of thought process, and how to come up with treatment plans. So, thank you, Lori. I think this is phenomenal, and I'm sure all the fellows listening to this podcast will be delighted to hear what you just said. Dr. Lori Rosenstein: Now, you still have to pass the Boards; that's still a key component. But I think if you polled program directors about what we think about Board passing, most of us would say it's probably sixth or seventh on the list of importance. Dr. Madison Conces: Yeah. I would actually add onto that. We've been talking about thinking through processes, and through these cases, and using, you know, the thinking process more than just memorization. And I think also in fellowship, we are trained to also have these conversations with patients, right? Because it's not always what would be the right answer when we think about it in a treatment sense, but if that doesn't match what the patient wants, then it's not the right treatment. And how do we adjust that based on what's in the patient's best interest or what the family wants, depending on what the situation is, obviously? I think fellowship is about this critical thinking, but also in the context of the fact that we're taking care of this human being in front of us. Dr. Aakash Desai: Well, this concludes part one of our discussion on the past, present, and future of Oncology training. My guests have been Dr. Madison Conces, Hematology/Oncology fellow at Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Lori Rosenstein, Hematology and Oncology Fellowship Program Director at Gundersen Health System, and Dr. Deepa Rangachari, Fellowship Program Director at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. In the second part of this episode, we will explore the different ways to stay current with new treatments and guidelines, as well as our guests' insights into how Oncology training should look like in the future. Thank you to all of our listeners for tuning into this ASCO Education podcast. If you have an idea for a topic or a guest you'd like to see on the show, please email us at: education@asco.org.   Thank you for listening to the ASCO Education podcast. To stay up to date with the latest episodes, please click "Subscribe." Let us know what you think by leaving a review. For more information, visit the Comprehensive Education Center at: education.asco.org. The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. This is not a substitute for professional medical care and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of individual conditions.   Guests on this podcast express their own opinions, experience, and conclusions. Guest statements on the podcast do not express the opinions of ASCO. The mention of any product, service, organization, activity, or therapy should not be construed as an ASCO endorsement.           Resources: ASCO Education Podcast: Cancer Topics - Burnout in Oncology: Trainee Perspective ASCO Education Podcast: Cancer Topics – Career Paths in Oncology (Part 1) ASCO Education Podcast: Cancer Topics – Career Paths in Oncology (Part 2) If you liked this episode, please subscribe. Learn more at https://education.asco.org, or email us at education@asco.org

Thursday marked the first day that Bellin Health and La Crosse-based Gundersen Health System officially operated together.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Saturday, the Green Bay Metro Fire Department is showcasing artifacts from their rich history; which dates back to 1841.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The state of Georgia may enforce work requirements for residents to qualify for expanded Medicaid. The longtime CEO of Cleveland-based MetroHealth was fired over nearly $2 million in alleged unauthorized bonuses that he gave to himself. And Bellin Health and Gundersen Health System are on track to finalize their merger at the end of this month. That's coming up on today's Gist Healthcare Daily. As a note to listeners, the podcast will be taking a short break this week for the Thanksgiving holiday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At Midwest Family we're very proud to be a part of Steppin Out in Pink with Gundersen Health System.  I first brought you this podcast last year and it's such a cool story I wanted to share it again.  Dr. Deitrich was a joy to talk with and I'll admit, my jaw dropped when she told me that besides being an Oncologist specializing in breast cancer she is also a breast cancer survivor.  She has a truly one of a kind perspective that I think you'll enjoy hearing.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This year Steppin' Out In Pink is Saturday, September 10th at Riverside Park.  Midwest Family is proud to be a sponsor of this great event with Gundersen Health System.  Last year I had a chance to sit down and get to know Dr. Paraic Kenney, he's the director of the Kabara Cancer Research Institute at the Gundersen Medical Foundation.  We talked about the unique way research is done here, how your contribution to Steppin' Out really makes an impact on local cancer patients while the results of Dr. Kenney's research is shared world wide.  I learned a lot and I think you will, too.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bellin Health officials say they're in deep discussions with La Crosse based Gundersen Health System on a possible merger deal.    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A LOT going on this week, with Mother's Day coming up...we had May the 4th, Cinco de Mayo, and on Monday, we gave you a spoiler-free recap of the final seven episodes of Ozark. But, if you'd like to hear our spoiler-FILLED recap, click here. Also on Monday, we took a look back to 2011 with our Monday Morning Throwback, when the "air sex championships" were coming to Milwaukee. Monday was our first interview with a mental health professional for Mental Health Awareness month. We talked with Kelly Neve from Gundersen Health System about chemical dependency, and you can hear that interview in it's entirety here. There was a great story this week about a guy who spent six years growing a new penis on his arm, and we gave you a list of Mother's Day gifts she'll actually want. A couple of polls on Wednesday, including one about the most frustrating thing you deal with at work(it's emails), and another about how horny older women really are. Shaw aced the movie quote this week for "You're killin' me, Shaws"(Coming to America), and we gave you a list of things to do in & around La Crosse this weekend! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Join Health Affairs Insider.The health care industry is among the most carbon-intensive service sectors in the industrialized world. It is responsible for 4.4–4.6 percent of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions and similar fractions of toxic air pollutants, largely stemming from fossil fuel combustion.In the second episode of The Earth Disease, journalist Jared Downing explores ways that the health care industry is working to curb its carbon footprint.Jared produced this series in 2021 as part of the Health Affairs Podcast Fellowship Program.Guests on this episode include Dr. Ashish Jha, Bob Biggio from Boston Medical Center, Jeff Thompson formerly from the Gundersen Health System.At the time of this recording, Dr. Jha was the Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. He is currently the White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator and Counselor to the President. The views represented in this podcast are his own.Works Cited: National Health Care Spending In 2020: Growth Driven By Federal Spending In Response To The COVID-19 Pandemic (Health Affairs) Health Care Pollution and Public Health Damage In The United States: An Update (Health Affairs) Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Environmental Protection Agency) Budget of the United States Government Music produced by Seth Kennedy.

In this episode, Dr. Christopher Tookey and Dr. Rose Wolbrink discuss the diagnosis of impaired fasting blood sugar (also known as prediabetes) A disclaimer, we're providing general guidance but everyone is different and you should always discuss with your health care professional management of any disease and therapy before trying anything you discover from a source on the internet (including this podcast). This podcast does not reflect the opinion of our employer. 

In this episode, Dr. Christopher Tookey and Dr. Rose Wolbrink discuss some general recommendations about healthy use of electronic devices in kids and young adults.  A disclaimer, we're providing general guidance but everyone is different and you should always discuss with your health care professional management of any disease and therapy before trying anything you discover from a source on the internet (including this podcast). 

Cried a bit about not getting any GI Joes or Legos, again, for Christmas. Must be 30 years in a row. After that, Dr. Michael Dolan, executive vice president and in internal medicine at Gundersen Health System in La Crosse, discussed a host of health topics, mainly centered around the dilemmas that COVID-19 creates. After that, a peculiar tweet  from the CDC about health care in the US. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to November! Halloween is over & our sights are set on all that turkey! We kicked things off with the Monday Morning Throwback and some things to look forward to in the month of November. We talked about our least favorite Thanksgiving foods and discussed whether it's "THIS weekend" or "NEXT weekend". Plus, Jean filled in for Shaw on Wednesday for a round of "You're killin' me, Jeans", and we also talked to Kristy from Gundersen Health System about their "All Of Us" campaign. We had a list of things that are universally hated, and gave you some things to do in & around La Crosse this weekend! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Dietrich is an oncologist at Gundersen Health System, specializing in breast cancer.  But there's more to her story.  Listen in for a great conversation about perspective and how life can change yours.    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Franciscan Spirituality Center920 Market StreetLa Crosse, WI 54601608-791-5295https://www.fscenter.orgSteve Spilde: Joan Filla is a friend of the Franciscan Spirituality Center, and also a personal friend. She has attended many events at the FSC, and she has done presentations for us on the healing of trauma. Joan is a physician at Gundersen Health System in La Crosse, and she has been on the front lines in the battle with COVID since the pandemic arrived in our community. Today, it is my honor to invite Joan to share her unique perspective in this traumatic period in all of our lives. Welcome, Joan.Doctor Joan Filla: Thanks, Steve. I'm happy to be here.Steve: You work as a physician for Gundersen Health System. What's your medical specialty?Doctor Filla: I am an Internal Medicine Hospitalist, which basically translates to I take care of sick adults who require hospitalization. I describe myself as the quarterback. I'm kind of the one that organizes things and needs to call in the specialist, when needed, to take care of a patient's needs.Steve: Take us back 18 months ago prior to the pandemic's arrival. What were your thoughts about what might be coming? And when did you know that we would be affected here in La Crosse?Doctor Filla: I have to admit that my first response and reaction was based out of naivety. I remember having conversations with my colleagues saying, ‘I just want to get this infection, get it over with, and be able to move on with my life and deal with other patients that have it.' I quickly realized I did not want this infection. I was not caring for the first patient that we had at Gundersen; that was one of my colleagues who has gone on to become as what I would refer to as our local hospitalist expert on COVID. It was with that patient, even though it was one patient, that I realized just a little bit of what the magnitude of this could be. That one patient where we really had no … there was really no guidance. We had no idea how to treat this other than to be supportive. We couldn't ask any specialist because nobody really knew a whole lot more than we did. I'm speaking for him and feeling what my colleague talked about, [and that] was it felt very lonely [and] very fearful. And then the family is afraid, [and] the patient is afraid. Patient and loved ones are separated. That patient changed me. It made me afraid to go down there, to go into the unit.Steve: That was the first patient you encountered, and then talk about, when was that, timewise?Doctor Filla: April of 2020. I don't remember the exact date. I was hearing about COVID kind of secondhand from my colleagues. I didn't work in the unit, I don't think until May when I actually took care of my first COVID-positive patient. At that point, we had a few hospitalists, docs, and physician assistants who had sort of gravitated there and become as much as we could the local experts. It's hard to say ‘experts,' but when you don't know a lot, that's literally what you are. I walked in as the physician leader for that team being one of the least experienced ones, which is also interesting. It's relying on a lot of past history [and] past knowledge of working with patients, and book learning, which it's been a long time since I've had to rely on book learning. It's been more based on experience and knowledge and actually taking care of people with issues. The first week of encountering patients, I wish I could say was the hardest, but it wasn't. If anything, it was a … there was some professional excitement because it was new. It was different, it was challenging. In some ways it was freeing, but it was also terrifying. During that week, I cared for the first COVID patient that I took care of that died. He's there, delirious [and] dying alone. [He] had already lost another family member to COVID. His other loved ones can't be there. I remember a phone conversation with one of the family members who wanted to talk to him, but he was not even in a state to be able to talk to his loved ones. The request came to me to tell him that I love him. To be the messenger in a situation of this gravity where the family has already lost another loved one, and now they're losing somebody else and they can't be there to be able to go into the room [and] tell him, ‘So-and-so says I love you.' His response was, he moved – that was as much as he could respond and to be able to share that. It was a moving moment. It was a moment that made me say, ‘As hard as this is, I want to keep doing it.'Steve: In that regard, this disease is unique in terms of, people are sick [and] people are dying, and yet you need to keep them isolated. And so family members were not in the room with them.Doctor Filla: Correct.Steve: And also, as physicians you have to have a level of – or even any healthcare workers [such as] nurses, therapists [or] whatever – you have to have a level of separation from the person that's not typical.Doctor Filla: It's an interesting dynamic because you need to keep a level of separation while you are there as their surrogate family. The largest burden of that fell onto the nursing staff – the registered nurses, the nursing assistants who spent the most time at the bedside. The respiratory therapists spent a lot of time at the bedside. I think it was easier as a physician to walk away because I had other people [and] other responsibilities. I'm not the bedside caretaker. But the nursing staff were phenomenal in being there to hold patients' hands, pass messages on from the family, coordinate and be present for the video conferences when we could get them, [and] the phone conversations. All of the times that they heard loved ones saying their last goodbyes, they were part of it. [They were] giving hugs when they could. It was very emotional. How do you keep separate, but yet still do that feeling and be present? That is a big challenge, and I think that's one of the traumas of healthcare in general: the art of keeping distance while being present and compassionate. But it was amplified with COVID.

As the retail landscape continues to shift and big box stores are permanently closing their doors, these abandoned, large-scale retail facilities are left empty. Adaptive reuse has become a popular solution. Rather than demolishing the building, they are being repurposed to fit community needs. Gundersen Health System's new clinic in Winona, Minnesota, was converted from an old Kmart building that had been sitting abandoned for years. Designed by HSR Associates, the 86,000-square-foot clinic includes primary care, urgent care, infusion services, retail pharmacy, lab, imaging services, and an outpatient surgery center. The repurposed facility is bringing much-needed healthcare access to the Winona community. But converting a retail space into a healthcare clinic came with its own unique set of challenges. Gundersen Health System's Bridgett Sanford and Chuck Johnson, along with HSR Associates Director Kyle Schauf and KA Project Manager Eric Pedersen, discuss the Gundersen Winona project and the pros and cons of adaptive reuse.

Dr. JEFF THOMPSON the former CEO of Gundersen Health System, pediatrician, and author of Lead True: Live Your Values, Build Your People, Inspire Your Community.  Jeff was CEO of Gundersen Health System for fourteen years responsible for improving quality, lowering cost, and advancing care into the community. He served a staff of seven thousand, hundreds of thousands of patients, and yearly spent a billion dollars of the community's money. His long experience as an intensive care pediatrician and senior executive has shown him how leading from one's values can affect tremendous lasting change.  During Dr. Thompson's tenure, Gundersen Health System developed an energy program that decreased GHGs by 95%, decreased hazardous pharmaceutical wastes by 98%, and did those in a fashion that decreased the cost of care and improved the local economy. Gundersen was repeatedly recognized nationally for excellence in quality and cost-effectiveness. It has earned Healthgrade's highest honors: America's 50 Best Award for 2012 through 2016. In 2015 he received the Practice Green Health Visionary Leader Award and was the only US provider to speak in the Blue Zone at the Paris Climate talks. . Dr. Thompson received the White House Champions of Change award in 2013.

Welcome to Episode 58 of The Mountain Land Running Medicine Podcast! Nate Vannatta, DPT, SCS from the Department of Sports Medicine of Gundersen Health System in Wisconsin is our guest for this month’s episode. Nate is a Sports Physical Therapist and Associate Program Director for the Gundersen Medical Education’s Sports Physical Therapy Residency Program. He is also an adjunct graduate faculty member of the La Crosse Institute for Movement Science… The post Hip Strength and Prior Injury first appeared on Mountain Land Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation.

If you're vaccinated, you don't have to wear a mask. But who's going to wear one if they're not vaccinated? Why aren't you vaccinated? Meghan Buechel, infection preventionist at Gundersen Health System in La Crosse, talked masks, vaccines for a little bit. More questions came afterward.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's episode, Rick and Sam are joined by Dr. Jeff Thompson, executive advisor and chief executive officer emeritus at Gundersen Health System, to discuss healthcare and the common good, including the context of the current pandemic. Dr. Thompson notes that as an organization you can be competitive and values-based, using creative solutions to both serve the community and meet organizational goals. The conversation explores healthcare organizations' responsibilities to the communities in which they operate; viewing resources, including finances, as tools to meet goals; and engaging stakeholders by first listening to understand their perspectives. Our guest today is Dr. Jeff Thompson. Dr. Thompson is executive advisor and chief executive officer emeritus at Gundersen Health System, as well as a nationally-recognized pediatrician, author, and speaker on values-based leadership. During Dr. Thompson's tenure, Gundersen Health System gained national recognition for its sustainability efforts and was recognized by independent healthcare ratings organizations for high-quality patient care. It also earned the highest honors of Healthgrades America's 50 Best Award for 2012 through 2016 and the White House Champions of Change award in 2013. Dr. Thompson is a founding member and past board chair of the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality and the La Crosse Medical Health Science Consortium. He also serves on boards for the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value, the Wisconsin Statewide Value Committee, About Health, and Practice Greenhealth. Dr. Thompson has authored and been featured in many articles, book chapters and abstracts on healthcare, leadership and sustainability topics. He is the author of Lead True: Live Your Values, Build Your People, Inspire Your Community, . He is board certified in Pediatric Critical Care, Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine, and Pediatrics and has been caring for patients for over thirty-five years. He earned his medical degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine. Sam Scinta is President and Founder of IM Education, a non-profit, and Lecturer in Political Science at University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and Viterbo University. Rick Kyte is Endowed Professor and Director of the DB Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership at Viterbo University. Music compliments of Bobby Bridger- “Rendezvous” from "A Ballad of the West"

Olive builds artificial intelligence and RPA solutions that empower healthcare organizations to improve efficiency and patient care while reducing costly administrative errors. The company is on a mission to AI workforce makes healthcare more efficient, more affordable, and more human - improving your bottom line today. Rohan D'Souza is the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Cybernetics. For more than a decade, Rohan has led product development teams at healthcare technology companies KenSci and eClinicalWorks, where he oversaw successful build-outs of various healthcare technology solutions. In his current role, Rohan oversees the day-to-day operations of the cybernetics division. Rohan is also a nationally recognized leader in interoperability and a champion for the adoption of standardized API's across the siloed health systems. In today's episode, we discuss the $51 million funding to accelerate Olive's AI workforce for healthcare and how Olive's AlphaSite adoption with Gundersen Health System will power a scalable AI workforce to improve the patient experience. We also discuss their recent partnership with Verata Health, which is tackling the $31B prior authorization challenge and how the company combined technologies to unlock conversational applications for artificial intelligence solutions.

Dr. Jeff Thompson, CEO Emeritus with the Gundersen Health System in La Crosse, WI, and Catalysis Board member, discussed the importance of culture and principles in effective and sustainable organizational change. As well as the steps necessary to operationalizing a principle-based approach to culture change and continuous improvement. A principle-based approach has been valuable to many healthcare organizations as they navigate and respond to the changing environment that the COVID-19 pandemic presents.

This week on Newsmakers, we’re taking another look at COVID-19 in our listening area. First, health leaders from Gundersen Health System and the Mayo Clinic Health System join host Ezra Wall to talk about trends in our community. Then, the presidents of Viterbo University and Western Technical College, and the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin La Crosse talk about how the public health crisis is affecting life on campus in 2020.

Sam and Paddy dive into such an important and serious topic with their guest today. How our perception of love can be shaped by things that aren't positive and how that affects how we view it as adults. Carolyn Colleen is a fierce mother of three children, author, international speaker, entrepreneur, and business strategist focused on helping others achieve their goals.  Carolyn is the founder of the FIERCE Academy, an online program that helps women create life strategies that enables them to have the life they dream of—without sacrificing their families, careers, or lifestyles. She is also the author of F.I.E.R.C.E.: Transform Your Life in the Face of Adversity, 5 Minutes at a Time!  With a soon to be Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership and Behavior (Dec 2020), an MBA, and a BA in Business, Carolyn understands the importance of traditional education. She also knows that intertwining personal experiences allows people to maximize the information from her teachings, presentations, and workshop offerings.  As a dynamic and innovative workplace leader, Carolyn has worked as a Program Manager and Business Development Consultant at Gundersen Health System, Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Account Management Executive for Gensler, and a Client Service Executive at UBS Financial Services. She knows how to transition people and processes to achieve the next-level of success while also aligning with organizational objectives.  From standing in a food line at the Salvation Army to Ph.D., Carolyn is avid about sharing her own life story and encouraging others to make changes that move them from fear to focusing on the pursuit of their passions. 

Started the show talking about Donald Trump's strange walk down a ramp and even stranger way he drank a small glass of water. After that, Megan Meller, infection specialist at Gundersen Health System, joined to talk about how opening up has exposed La Crosse to the virus. Seven bars and the beach are on the health department's list of possible exposure June 5-7.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brought in Dr. Gary Weigel at Thompson Animal Medical Center | Veterinary Clinic, on how they're handling things pandemic, what you might need to be getting done for your pets and, best of all, we talked about Thunder, their 15-year-old paralyzed cat, they took in as a kitten that had broke its back. After that, Dr. Wayne Bottner, Medical director of the blood bank at Gundersen Health System, talked all things blood and donations.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

[podcast src="https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/14243987/height/90/theme/custom/autoplay/no/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/f89c1c/" height="90" width="100%" placement="top" theme="custom"] Carolyn Colleen is a fierce mother of three children, author, international speaker, entrepreneur, and business strategist focused on helping others achieve their goals. Carolyn is the founder of the FIERCE Academy, an online program that helps women create life strategies that enables them to have the life they dream of—without sacrificing their families, careers, or lifestyles. She is also the author of F.I.E.R.C.E.: Transform Your Life in the Face of Adversity, 5 Minutes at a Time! With a soon to be Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership and Behavior (May 2020), an MBA, and a BA in Business, Carolyn understands the importance of traditional education. She also knows that intertwining personal experiences allows people to maximize the information from her teachings, presentations, and workshop offerings. As a dynamic and innovative workplace leader, Carolyn has worked as a Program Manager and Business Development Consultant at Gundersen Health System, Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Account Management Executive for Gensler, and a Client Service Executive at UBS Financial Services. She knows how to transition people and processes to achieve the next-level of success while also aligning with organizational objectives. From standing in a food line at the Salvation Army to Ph.D., Carolyn is avid about sharing her own life story and encouraging others to make changes that move them from fear to focusing on the pursuit of their passions. Key Points from the Episode with Carolyn Colleen: Carolyn is a mother of three, author, speaker, business strategist, coach and more. In her day job, she builds strategies for healthcare providers to help serve patients at the worst moments of their lives. Her journey started in childhood with what happened to her being channeled into what happens for her. Her mother had mental illness, which shaped her childhood greatly. Additionally, she was sexually molested by a neighbor for years. While her mother meant well, her untreated mental illness had a profound impact on Carolyn’s life. Part of that included being reminded that she was adopted and had to earn her keep in the household. Additionally, Carolyn’s mother was a hoarder, so the house was overwhelmingly full of towers of ‘stuff’ everywhere, and the smells that come along with that and the filth that builds up. Her mother also opened their home to people in need, homeless and others down on their luck. Some of those people sought to abuse that generosity by abusing Carolyn and her younger sister. To protect her sister, Carolyn would offer herself in her sister’s place. Being eight years old, Carolyn loved her younger sister dearly, and took on a great responsibility for her sister to protect and care for her in the absence of their mother’s ability to do that. Her father traveled for work, so he was not around most of the time, leaving Carolyn and her sister alone with their mom with Carolyn to protect her. When Carolyn went to school, she worried about her sister being alone at home with their mother given the issues their mom had. There were days that were great, and days that were horrible – it was unstable and uncertain. As a teenager, Carolyn had her first love, her first boyfriend, who she placed a lot of hope in to take her out of everything. When they broke up, she woke up at 16 in the ER after trying to take her life. She came home after a 72 hour suicide hold to a sister who was angry with her, and said, “Don’t you ever leave me.” She realized how much she was meant to be there for her sister, and promised her she would never leave her again. At 19, she found herself married, pregnant and with a man who sought to destroy her self-worth. Her sister was just 10, and did not really understand the situation, being excited to have a sort-of little sister coming (since Carolyn had basically raised her sister) but also jealous and confused about the new person who would be taking Carolyn’s attention. Carolyn’s husband sought to control her at all times, whether it was her weight, what she wore or anything else. Carolyn thought this was love. She believes we, as humans, choose partners who reflect our sense of ourselves. When her daughter was born, she realized this was not ok, and had to seek better for the two of them. She says she borrowed the love she had for her daughter until her own self-love caught up enough for her to do it for herself, too. She had created a mental jail out of low self-worth and negative self-talk that her spouse was reinforcing. She could have left physically, but was constrained emotionally and mentally. When her husband saw the risk of her leaving, he told her he would take both of their lives so they could be together. In between calls from him to check on her whereabouts and actions, she grabbed her daughter and a couple of bags, and went to the Salvation Army to escape. She couldn’t believe this was her life, and felt paralyzed. She had to think of a way to move forward and keep smiling so she didn’t scare her daughter, and find a strategy so this would not be her life. Someone said, “You can get through this, one day at a time.” Carolyn was floored. She didn’t think she could get through a day. It was too much. So she started to look at things in five minute chunks, which was all she could face at that time, but became an empowering way to move forward. She took all the tough, negative emotions, and use them as fuel to move forward. She had to find a place to sleep that night, food to eat for her and her daughter, and that was it. And she did it. While in low income housing, a stabbing happened outside her home, and she decided that this was not acceptable and one year from then, she would be out. She had no idea how or where she’d go, but that she must go. She moved out one year from the date she got the keys to the place. She had used that emotion to kick on her fight-or-flight mechanism to take actions in a positive direction for the next five minutes, which would build to ten, twenty, etc. We can do something we don’t want to do for five minutes even if we just want to hide or do nothing. The more she practiced this, the more she achieved, the more opportunities arose, and the more she evolved. She soon found herself able to get through a whole day, and then she can create bigger goals and reverse-engineer them down to five minute actions. The next period of her life was working full-time, being in school full-time, helping raise her sister and raising her daughter with no support. She completed her undergraduate degree, then her masters and PhD. You can look back and see what things you’ve faced that you can see as adverse advantages. She has an ability to flex, have empathy and build large, complex, sustainable strategy because of her ability to see a path through unpredictable, difficult situations. Carolyn has had amazing support throughout her life, and taught her that your family is who you make it. She’s found that letting go of ego is needed to accept help from the community. No matter what happened five minutes ago, the next five minutes is yours to decide where to go with it. Links: Website: carolyncolleen.com where you can get the F.I.E.R.C.E. Action Guide Book: F.I.E.R.C.E.: Transform Your Life in the Face of Adversity, 5 Minutes at a Time! Instagram: @carolyncolleen Facebook: @FIERCEandFulfilledCommunity Subscribe to The Do a Day Podcast    Keep Growing with Do a Day Get Bryan's best-selling first book, Do a Day, which is the inspiration for this show and can help you overcome your greatest challenges and achieve in life. Read Bryan's best-selling second book, The 50 75 100 Solution: Build Better Relationships, to tap into the power we all have to improve our relationships – even the tough ones we feel have no hope of getting better. Get started on your journey to Better with the Big Goal Exercise Take your growth into your own hands with the Do a Day Masterclass Work with Bryan as your coach, or hire him to speak at your next event

An interview with Dr. Jeff Thompson, pediatrician and former CEO of Gundersen Health System, on April 17, 2020. This is Episode 1 of Ethics Today hosted by Richard Kyte, Director of the DB Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership at Viterbo University.

Tons of questions on COVID-19 answered by Megan Meller, infection preventionist at Gundersen Health System in La Crosse. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My guest today is Megan Anderson, the Injury Prevention Coordinator at Gundersen Health System in La Crosse. We talk about ways to prevent injuries from frostbite and hypothermia during the colder weather months. We also discuss the signs of both.

VALUES BASED LEADERSHIP: How a True Leader Puts People, Organization, and Community First.Today, on the show we have JEFF THOMPSON, MD, who is an executive advisor and chief executive officer emeritus at Gundersen Health System, pediatrician, author, and speaker on values-based leadership.Jeff’s experience in leadership is far-reaching, having led diverse teams, projects, and divisions, before holding multiple senior executive roles, including fourteen years as a CEO responsible for a staff of seven thousand, hundreds of thousands of patients, and a billion dollars of the community’s money within the Gundersen Health System. His long experience as intensive care pediatrician and senior executive has shown him over and over again how leading from one’s values has the power to affect long-term meaningful change.During Dr. Thompson’s tenure, Gundersen Health System has been recognized across the country by independent healthcare ratings organizations for high-quality patient care. It has also earned the highest honors of Healthgrades America’s 50 Best AwardTM for 2012 through 2016 and the White House Champions of Change award in 2013.Dr. Thompson is a founding member and past board chair of the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality and the La Crosse Medical Health Science Consortium. He also serves on boards for the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value, the Wisconsin Statewide Value Committee, About Health (chair), and Practice Greenhealth.Dr. Thompson has authored and been featured in many articles, book chapters and abstracts on healthcare, leadership and sustainability topics. He is the author of Lead True: Live Your Values, Build Your People, Inspire Your Community, (Forbes Books, March 2017).Dr. Thompson is board certified in Pediatric Critical Care, Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine, and Pediatrics. He has been caring for patients for over thirty-five years. He earned his medical degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and completed his residency and fellowship at SUNY Upstate Medical University.He resides in La Crosse, Wisconsin with his wife and in near proximity to his three grown children.Gundersen Health SystemGundersen Health System is a non-profit, comprehensive, and integrated healthcare network headquartered in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Gundersen employs over 6,000 people, serves 19 counties in western Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota, and northeastern Iowa. This extensive and advanced medical network boasts one of the nation’s largest multi-specialty group medical practices, teaching hospital, regional community clinics, behavioral health services, vision centers, and air and ground ambulances, as well as many other services available for patients’ convenience and health. In 2015, Gundersen received Healthgrade America’s 50 Best AwardTM. Consistently ranked in the top five percent of hospitals in the country for clinical quality care by independent healthcare ratings organizations, Gundersen relentlessly pursues improved health for patients, their families, and the communities it serves.VALUES BASED LEADERSHIPHow a True Leader Puts People, Organization, and Community FirstWe all face countless decisions throughout our careers. The specific circumstances that call us to lead will be different, but the core dilemmas and ethical challenges are very similar. Faced with these challenges, each of us must decide if we will follow our ego-centered inclinations or lead for the good of everyone whose lives we touch? Will we endanger or impair those around us to satisfy our own self-interest, or will we lead in a manner that is true to our values?In his inspiring book Lead True, Jeff Thompson, MD, has masterfully compiled stories from the business, healthcare, and education fields, illustrating how a diverse group of leaders has employed value-based leadership and succeeded. These case studies offer dynamic, living narratives that demonstrate ways in which a leader, fueled by personal values, can change people, organizations, and even entire industries.What sets this book apart is the interweaving of the author’s personal leadership story in healthcare to the insights from start-ups, mid-career, and top-level leaders—people who have proven that values-driven leadership is not simply a noble idea but one that actually works in practice. The author artfully shows that the goal of leadership is not to move one individual ahead of all others. When you lead true, you can move everyone forward—people, organizations, and communities—finding the best route for all.The Positive Phil Show is a daily podcast hosted by Positive Phil.www.positivephil.comThe program primarily consists of interviews with positive people and thought leaders, as well as others in the social, business and entertainment community.We are a community of over 1,550,000 people who seek to create positive and lasting change. We hope our stories provide inspiration and practical advice to change your life.The best resource for advice, videos and motivation to help you realize your full potentialEngaging interviews with famous people, celebrities, athletes, authors, spiritual educators, thought leaders, as well as others in the social, business and entertainment industry.In an age of bad news and depressing social comparison, we launched Positive Phil network with one goal: inspire people. Good things happen every day, and we’re here to tell you about them.Award Winning Podcast where Positive Phil chats with today’s most inspiring Thought Leaders, Pioneering Spirits and Entrepreneurs 365 days a year.Engaging interviews with famous people, celebrities, athletes, authors, spiritual educators, thought leaders, as well as others in the social, business and entertainment industry.Positive Phil Show is a daily show hosted by Positive Phil.Listen To Our Show:Itunes: itunes.apple.com/sb/podcast/positive-phil-show/id1107492702?mt=2Stitcher Radio: bit.ly/2c9czHFGoogle Play: bit.ly/2dPZzUWGoogle Podcasts www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3ByZWFrZXIuY29tL3Nob3cvMTczMTc2NS9lcGlzb2Rlcy9mZWVkFREE AUDIO BOOKSwww.audibletrial.com/positivephilRelated Positive Phil is a motivational keynote speaker and marketing consultant focusing on revenue generation and investor awareness for public companies.

VALUES BASED LEADERSHIP: How a True Leader Puts People, Organization, and Community First.Today, on the show we have JEFF THOMPSON, MD, who is an executive advisor and chief executive officer emeritus at Gundersen Health System, pediatrician, author, and speaker on values-based leadership.Jeff’s experience in leadership is far-reaching, having led diverse teams, projects, and divisions, before holding multiple senior executive roles, including fourteen years as a CEO responsible for a staff of seven thousand, hundreds of thousands of patients, and a billion dollars of the community’s money within the Gundersen Health System. His long experience as intensive care pediatrician and senior executive has shown him over and over again how leading from one’s values has the power to affect long-term meaningful change.During Dr. Thompson’s tenure, Gundersen Health System has been recognized across the country by independent healthcare ratings organizations for high-quality patient care. It has also earned the highest honors of Healthgrades America’s 50 Best AwardTM for 2012 through 2016 and the White House Champions of Change award in 2013.Dr. Thompson is a founding member and past board chair of the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality and the La Crosse Medical Health Science Consortium. He also serves on boards for the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value, the Wisconsin Statewide Value Committee, About Health (chair), and Practice Greenhealth.Dr. Thompson has authored and been featured in many articles, book chapters and abstracts on healthcare, leadership and sustainability topics. He is the author of Lead True: Live Your Values, Build Your People, Inspire Your Community, (Forbes Books, March 2017).Dr. Thompson is board certified in Pediatric Critical Care, Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine, and Pediatrics. He has been caring for patients for over thirty-five years. He earned his medical degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and completed his residency and fellowship at SUNY Upstate Medical University.He resides in La Crosse, Wisconsin with his wife and in near proximity to his three grown children.Gundersen Health SystemGundersen Health System is a non-profit, comprehensive, and integrated healthcare network headquartered in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Gundersen employs over 6,000 people, serves 19 counties in western Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota, and northeastern Iowa. This extensive and advanced medical network boasts one of the nation’s largest multi-specialty group medical practices, teaching hospital, regional community clinics, behavioral health services, vision centers, and air and ground ambulances, as well as many other services available for patients’ convenience and health. In 2015, Gundersen received Healthgrade America’s 50 Best AwardTM. Consistently ranked in the top five percent of hospitals in the country for clinical quality care by independent healthcare ratings organizations, Gundersen relentlessly pursues improved health for patients, their families, and the communities it serves.VALUES BASED LEADERSHIPHow a True Leader Puts People, Organization, and Community FirstWe all face countless decisions throughout our careers. The specific circumstances that call us to lead will be different, but the core dilemmas and ethical challenges are very similar. Faced with these challenges, each of us must decide if we will follow our ego-centered inclinations or lead for the good of everyone whose lives we touch? Will we endanger or impair those around us to satisfy our own self-interest, or will we lead in a manner that is true to our values?In his inspiring book Lead True, Jeff Thompson, MD, has masterfully compiled stories from the business, healthcare, and education fields, illustrating how a diverse group of leaders has employed value-based leadership and succeeded. These case studies offer dynamic, living narratives that demonstrate ways in which a leader, fueled by personal values, can change people, organizations, and even entire industries.What sets this book apart is the interweaving of the author’s personal leadership story in healthcare to the insights from start-ups, mid-career, and top-level leaders—people who have proven that values-driven leadership is not simply a noble idea but one that actually works in practice. The author artfully shows that the goal of leadership is not to move one individual ahead of all others. When you lead true, you can move everyone forward—people, organizations, and communities—finding the best route for all.The Positive Phil Show is a daily podcast hosted by Positive Phil.www.positivephil.comThe program primarily consists of interviews with positive people and thought leaders, as well as others in the social, business and entertainment community.We are a community of over 1,550,000 people who seek to create positive and lasting change. We hope our stories provide inspiration and practical advice to change your life.The best resource for advice, videos and motivation to help you realize your full potentialEngaging interviews with famous people, celebrities, athletes, authors, spiritual educators, thought leaders, as well as others in the social, business and entertainment industry.In an age of bad news and depressing social comparison, we launched Positive Phil network with one goal: inspire people. Good things happen every day, and we’re here to tell you about them.Award Winning Podcast where Positive Phil chats with today’s most inspiring Thought Leaders, Pioneering Spirits and Entrepreneurs 365 days a year.Engaging interviews with famous people, celebrities, athletes, authors, spiritual educators, thought leaders, as well as others in the social, business and entertainment industry.Positive Phil Show is a daily show hosted by Positive Phil.Listen To Our Show:Itunes: itunes.apple.com/sb/podcast/positive-phil-show/id1107492702?mt=2Stitcher Radio: bit.ly/2c9czHFGoogle Play: bit.ly/2dPZzUWGoogle Podcasts www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3ByZWFrZXIuY29tL3Nob3cvMTczMTc2NS9lcGlzb2Rlcy9mZWVkFREE AUDIO BOOKSwww.audibletrial.com/positivephilRelated Positive Phil is a motivational keynote speaker and marketing consultant focusing on revenue generation and investor awareness for public companies.

In this week’s episode, John talks EHRs and physician burnout, prescription drug prices in TV ads, and more. Highlights include: Gundersen Health System and Marshfield Clinic talk merger. Bon Secours Mercy Health signs letter of intent to acquire Dublin, Ireland-based Bon Secours Health System. UnitedHealthcare’s new bundled payment program for maternity care. U.S. District Court judge struck down the 340B rate cut. Washington becomes the second state to announce a subscription-based payment model for HCV drugs. About Darwin Research Group Darwin Research Group Inc. provides advanced market intelligence and in-depth customer insights to health care executives, with a strategic focus on health care delivery systems and the global shift toward value-based care. Darwin’s client list includes forward-thinking biopharmaceutical and medical device companies, as well as health care providers, private equity, and venture capital firms. The company was founded in 2010 as Darwin Advisory Partners, LLC and is headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz. with a satellite office in Princeton, N.J.

Death is the last part of our lives that we often feel we have no control over; but there is a way to be in charge of the wishes of how your last days maybe lived.  Mark visits with Denise Nicholson, RN in the healing garden of Gundersen Health System about this most important document.  During this conversation, you can literally download an online form and follow along during our conversation to document the choices and the desires for your end of life care.  Don’t let your family suffer through the unknown, without your stated directions being clearly stated.  Mark and Denise share this intimate conversation together to help provide you and your family peace of mind during one of life’s most difficult moments.

Gundersen Health System and Marshfield Clinic Health System are discussing how the two organizations might come together to collectively enhance the level of care across Wisconsin, northeast Iowa and southeastern Minnesota. Media spoke with the CEO of Gundersen Health Systems Dr. Scott Rathgaber on what makes this a potentially good fit for both systems. 

This week, Dan Neumann is joined by Dr. Jeff Thompson. Jeff is the Executive Advisor and Chief Executive Officer Emeritus at Gundersen Health System as well as a pediatrician, author, and speaker on values-based leadership. His experience in leadership is extensive — with his role as CEO at Gundersen Health System for 14 years being especially remarkable. During his tenure at Gundersen Health System, they had been recognized across the country for their high-quality patient care.   In his book, Lead True: Live Your Values, Build Your People, Inspire Your Community, Jeff illustrates how a true leader puts their people, organization, and community first. In it, he has compiled stories from a diverse group of leaders who have employed values-based leadership and succeeded. These values greatly align with those of Dan’s in the Agile space.   In today’s episode, Jeff and Dan discuss values-based leadership and how important it is to incorporate in an organization. Jeff gives several deep lessons on excellence and how everyone within the organization can live and benefit through an organization’s values.   Key Takeaways How to implement values-based leadership in an organization: Make the values explicit and have the courage to speak them Give staff clarity on what the organization is about, what you’re going to stand for, and what the purpose is Use the value set as a means to show them how to get there Make the purpose known (especially a purpose beyond the money) Build a steady drumbeat of serving this purpose in a disciplined way Jeff’s tips and strategies for achieving better alignment around an organization’s purpose and values: Be really clear and consistent about the organization’s message (write it down and post it; make it very public) Have the courage to say what the purpose is, what the mission is, and what the values are Implement a code of conduct that applies to everyone in the organization Follow through Use a covenant (or “compact”) with staff and teams to help with alignment Follow the principle: if it’s not O.K. for everybody, then it’s not O.K. for one Manage influential people’s bad behavior to improve overall creativity, engagement, and decrease turnover Benefits of a values-based leadership: Once it gets going, this model can sustain itself Improves the wellbeing of the community Unleashes the talents and creativity of your organization Encourages innovation by providing a structure that allows staff to act on their own Encourages creativity, momentum, and excellence by providing a set of principles on how to treat each other   Mentioned in this Episode: Dr. Jeff Thompson (LinkedIn) Gundersen Health System Lead True: Live Your Values, Build Your People, Inspire Your Community, by Jeff Thompson   Want to Learn More or Get in Touch? Visit the website and catch up with all the episodes on AgileThought.com! Email your thoughts or suggestions to Podcast@AgileThought.com or Tweet @AgileThought using #AgileThoughtPodcast!

Thomas D. Harter, PhD, talks about How to Convince Patients (and Clinicians) to Engage in Advance Care Planning. He is the Director at the Center for Bioethics, Humanities and Advance Care Planning at Gundersen Health System in Wisconsin, which is famous for the amount of people that have engaged in Advance Care Planning. He also discusses how wide spread advance care planning impacts his role as an ethicist. 

Jeff Thompson, M.D., is the executive advisor and chief executive officer emeritus at Gundersen Health System and a pediatrician, author, and speaker on values-based leadership. He shares his experience in leading communities by caring about what matters to patients and physicians and always having core principles as priorities in any decision-making situation from hiring personnel to financing. Health Care needs to start building more communities, finding strength in the diversity, and following the right motivation, which is to serve people. Be inspired by the words of a man that honors his words and walks the path and you, too, start being part of the change   Key Takeaways: [:38] What brought Dr. Thompson to Aspen? [1:11] Dr. Johnson’s background. [3:46] Biggest ideas Dr. Thompson is taking from his time in Aspen. [5:38] How can experiences with patients overseas be applied in a community like Wisconsin? [8:24] Death panels. [11:42] What does it take as a leader to speak up and defend your patients? [15:55] Who taught Dr. Thompson how to be a leader? [18:44] How does Dr. Thompson judge his own success? [25:49] Advice for young leaders: Sticking with one's values over time is a priority. [28:04] Live through your core values. [28:14] Training the next generation of leaders. [29:20] What is next for Dr. Thompson?   Mentioned in this episode: Relational Rounds at Primary Care Progress Primary Care Progress on Twitter Lead True: Live Your Values, Build Your People, Inspire Your Community, by Dr. Jeff Thompson

Dr. Jeff Thompson is Executive Advisor and Chief Executive Officer Emeritus at Gundersen Health System in LaCrosse Wisconsin. He is also an accomplished author and speaker, as well as a practicing pediatrician. Dr. Thompson ran Gundersen Health System for 14 years. The organization covers a significant portion of Wisconsin, hundreds of thousands of patients, employes a staff of 7,000, and is consistently ranked as one of the highest quality healthcare organizations in the country. Much of that success comes from Dr. Thompson and his team's work to build and sustain a culture where patients are put first - in practice and not just as a slogan - employees are encouraged to remember why they got into healthcare in the first place, and where business goals and financial imperatives are aligned with the mission of providing outstanding care. In this conversation, we talk about leadership, organizational culture, and how the business of healthcare can and does work closely with the ideal of not just treating sick people, but keeping them well in the first place.

It is important for companies to form collective values that can be shared and communicated to their employees and customers. Many companies do this, they have core values, but many companies fall short. Many companies identify core values that very often become part of their vision statement, but unless these values are really lived, they are worthless. They also must be lived and lead by example-from the top of the organization. Core values are what support the vision, shape the culture and drive the essence of a company's identity. They are the principles, beliefs and philosophies that the leaders and employees must live by. Companies that focus only on competencies fall short because they forget the underlying values that make their companies run smoothly. Establishing strong core values can provide both an internal and external advantage to any company. In this episode, we look at why core values are so important in today's global and competitive market.

Dr. Jeff Thompson shares his philosophy of values based leadership and shows you how to do good in business while also doing well. JEFF THOMPSON, MD, is executive advisor and chief executive officer emeritus at Gundersen Health System, pediatrician, author, and speaker on values-based leadership. Jeff’s experience in leadership is far-reaching, having led diverse teams, projects, and divisions, before holding multiple senior executive roles, including fourteen years as a CEO responsible for a staff of seven thousand, hundreds of thousands of patients, and a billion dollars of the community’s money within the Gundersen Health System. His long experience as intensive care pediatrician and senior executive has shown him over and over again how leading from one’s values has the power to affect long-term meaningful change.   Podcast Highlights Who is Jeff Thompson? Jeff Thompson is a husband of 38 years, the father of three children, and his early goal was to get into medical without debt. From the time he was little, Jeff knew he wanted to be a doctor so he worked as a janitor to pay his way through medical school. Jeff’s mother was an early inspiration and model for values based leadership, despite not having the usual characteristics we think leaders would have.   What skillsets did you develop that helped you lead? Everyone in an organization is important. As a leader, you should facilitate the people who work for you and learn what they need to perform at a high level. Even with a distributed workforce, you need to have a structure and a purpose for your organization. Money is not enough to attract good people. How do we do good and do well at the same time? You must have a disciplined disregard for conventional wisdom. Don’t throw away everything, but not all wisdom is equal. Leading with values will raise the whole level of the organization over the long term. Finances are a tool, not the goal. By having the goal of improving the health and financial well being of the community, Jeff managed to attract many partners that wanted the same thing. More people die of air pollution related illness than HIV and malaria combined. By starting with environmental conservation, Jeff managed to save significant amounts of money every year after the initiative while also serving the community.   How do you deal with resistance? The proof is in the numbers. Careful measurement of the effects of your values based policy is the disciplined part of disregarding conventional wisdom. Short term thinking is one of the biggest problems in the country today. Live your values and follow through.   What is the first step for entrepreneurs who want to lead with their values? You have to be very clear about your values and what you want to accomplish. People will change jobs because of the values that are exemplified. Start with your values and then look for partners who share them. The numbers are a tool to serve your higher purpose. The smaller the organization, the easier it is to set the tone you want. Reference: Lead True: Live Your Values, Build Your People, Inspire Your Community, Dr. jeff Thompson   Jeff’s Takeaway Sit down and write out a purpose statement of why your company exists and what you really want to accomplish. Set out four to six values that you are going to live by. Then sit down with your leadership and staff and let them advise you on how to get from where you are now to where you want to go.   Links: http://jeffthompsonmd.com Thank you for listening! If you en

Dr. Jeff Thompson is an executive advisor and chief executive officer emeritus at Gundersen Health System, pediatrician, author, and speaker. His experience in leadership is far-reaching, having led diverse teams, projects, and divisions, before holding multiple senior executive roles, including fourteen years as CEO of Gundersen Health System. Dr. Thompson is also the author of “Lead True: Live Your Values, Build Your People, Inspire Your Community.” What you’ll learn about in this episode Unleashing the power of multiple people with the same set of values Jeff’s involvement in developing an advanced care planning program for seniors that is the most widely used in the world today The benefits of building a culture that focuses on something bigger than yourself Having the discipline to live by the values that you develop Why there should be no exceptions to treating everyone with respect Why you shouldn’t be afraid of high standards when you’re building a business One of the key pieces to innovation Why CEO’s & leaders need to get out where the work really is Jeff’s new book “Lead True: Live Your Values, Build Your People, Inspire Your Community” The importance of reading as much as you can How to best connect with Jeff: Website: jeffthompsonmd.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-thompson-33400a6b

Date: September 11, 2014 Featuring: Kevin Little, PhD, Improvement Advisor, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI); Principal, Informing Ecological Design, LLC Kristine KS White, RN, BSN, MBA, Faculty, IHI; Principal, Aerate Consulting; Co-founder, Aefina Partners, LLC Kathy Klock, Senior Vice President, Human Resources & Clinical Support Services, Gundersen Health System James Bonner, LMSW, Director of Patient Experience, Spectrum Health Have you been poring over some patient survey or patient experience data lately? Chances are good you have. How did you make sense of what you saw? What actions are you taking as a result of what you learned? Not sure? Unclear what to make of the information or what to do with it? You are not alone! In fact, as the ways to learn about how patients experience their care and their caregivers have grown, so has the confusion about how to interpret the data and how to make the best use of it. We invited Kris White and Kevin Little to lead the discussion, both of whom are determined to pull listeners out of whatever morass of patient-generated information they might be drowning in. Kathy Klock from Gundersen Health System and James Bonner from Spectrum Health joined to discuss how their organizations are successfully navigating the patient experience data waters.   Learn about a terrific set of guiding principles for appreciating and distinguishing among the wide range of methods health care organizations are using to decipher patient experience data and the comprehensive picture that emerges from patient surveys, focus groups, patient and family advisory councils, and much more. 

Date: January 26, 2012 Featuring: Ellen Goodman, Columnist, Author, founding member of The Conversation Project Ira Byock, MD, Professor, Dartmouth Medical School; Director of Palliative Medicine, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center Bernard “Bud” Hammes, PhD, Director, Medical Humanities and Respecting Choices®, Gundersen Health System Martha Hayward, Lead for Public and Patient Engagement, Institute for Healthcare Improvement Most of us, if asked, say we care a great deal about will happen to us when we’re at the end of our lives. And yet, because we’d also rather focus on just about anything but death and dying, especially if we’re young and healthy or aging well, we’re all vulnerable to what can transpire by default: spending our last few days in an ICU, even if that’s at odds with our needs and preferences. The reasons for this disconnect are complex but often stem from the fact that individual and family decisions come late, are hashed out during a crisis, and in the very setting — a hospital — that promises high-tech and high-intervention cures for just about everything.  This scenario is slowly starting to change. There are now numerous efforts, some medically-based and many more that are grassroots, successfully promoting alternative perspectives and practices so that people who’d prefer to die at home can do so, and benefit from pain management and comfort over costly and heroic measures. But when you get right down to it, “dying well” is quite personal and, as such, needs to start in a personal place: by having a conversation with the people you’re closest to about how you want to die and how they, surviving friends and family members, can feel okay carrying out your wishes. Equally important: initiating or being open to that conversation, perhaps several conversations, when the circumstances aren’t so fraught and there’s time to digest and reflect and integrate the information.  All of this and more are what’s behind a new initiative getting underway in 2012 called The Conversation Project (TCP), which will be discussed on the January 26 WIHI. In collaboration with IHI, award-winning columnist and founding member Ellen Goodman and the project’s team members seek to create a cultural movement with one basic goal: to help every American say what they want at the end of life so that family members and medical providers have the guidance they need to respect those preferences. To get there, TCP wants to normalize discussions that can at times feel “too big to broach” by encouraging loved ones to talk to one another when circumstances aren’t so charged — when everyone is healthy — and the environment is more conducive to a good exchange. Around the kitchen table, for instance, rather than the hospital bed.   To launch a national campaign to bring about this change, Ellen Goodman and members of TCP have turned to many, many experts on death and dying, palliative care, and successful partnerships with patients and families, including two outspoken champions of change on the clinical and community side: Dartmouth’s Ira Byock and Gundersen Health System’s Bud Hammes. With IHI’s Martha Hayward also on board, WIHI host Madge Kaplan invites you to get an early look at a unique initiative in the making from the architects themselves. Increasingly, that’s going to become all of us —­having “The Conversation” and telling others how it went and what we learned in the process. It’s hoped that many will benefit, including health professionals who often find themselves at a loss for words, brought up short by their training, and caught in the cross hairs of their own and others’ conflicting emotions and wishes.