ChrisDesmondnz

Don’t answer feelings with facts: frameworks for responding with empathy

October 17, 2021 ChrisDesmondnz 00:49:03 0 Comments

Empathy is important. The research points to this, and we’re told to be more empathetic.
BUT
How do we actually do that?
Dr Laura Rock joins the podcast to have a conversation about empathy in real clinical practice.
We talk through

The power of stories for teaching
The importance of listening to patient stories
Why we should pay attention to the “small” stuff
Reflective writing
Training to look at problems from more than one perspective
Why we shouldn’t be afraid of people crying
The reasons emotions are scary for health professionals
The problem with suppressing emotions
Understanding how we add emotional load to patients
The GIVE framework for empathy
The Ask – tell -ask framework for an empathetic response
Expert parenting strategies
How we can perform better as healthcare teams
How we can communicate better as healthcare teams

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The Art of Healthcare
The Art of Healthcare
Don't answer feelings with facts: frameworks for responding with empathy
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Improving your communication with journalist turned physical therapist Jasmine Marcus

October 10, 2021 ChrisDesmondnz 00:40:28 0 Comments

Most of us been thinking and communicating health information for our entire adult lives. Some of us (including me) since before our brain was fully developed.
 
We’d like to think that we’re doing a good job of conveying information to everyone else who hasn’t had the depth of learning we have. I’m sure a lot of the time we do a really good job, BUT can we actually be sure?
 
Jasmine Marcus is a journalist turned physical therapist who still remembers living life as an adult without knowing this stuff. She couples this with her communication expertise as a journalist and joins me on the podcast this week.
 
We talk through

Understanding what it’s like to be an adult not working in the health industry
The challenges of not having something tangible to show for your work
The value of recording and acknowledging your wins
That it’s normal to question our abilities
Glorifying our ego by oversharing what we notice is “abnormal”
Why we should normalize “abnormal” findings
How to shift the direction of dominant narratives
Why you should question what you take for granted
Trying to make yourself more skeptical
How to challenge nocebo effects
The power of celery water
Why you should consume professional education on social media

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The Art of Healthcare
The Art of Healthcare
Improving your communication with journalist turned physical therapist Jasmine Marcus
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The importance of creativity and preparation

October 3, 2021 ChrisDesmondnz 00:43:12 0 Comments

Creativity and preparation may seem to be strange bedfellows. After all one seems fluid while the other is rigid.
 
Tyson Franklin joins me to discuss why we need both (and how they can fit together) in order to be practicing at the top of our game.
 
Today we talk through

How everyone has a creative streak
How to cultivate your creativity 
The role creativity plays in communication 
Why you should seek out new experiences outside your profession 
Brain books
Creating a disaster folder
Bringing a buffer zone into your day
Using the concept your future self effectively 
Preparing to be your best, in the worst situation
The real reason Tyson has that ear ring 
Bobcats fighting rattlesnakes 
Everyone has a favourite super hero

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The Art of Healthcare
The Art of Healthcare
The importance of creativity and preparation
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Why you fail your patient if you only think of them as their health problem

September 22, 2021 ChrisDesmondnz 00:54:51 0 Comments

One reason for so many of our Healthcare advancements is our reductionist thinking about health. Tackling one small aspect at a time and solving it. It’s why we’ve got better at keeping people alive.
 
One reason that healthcare doesn’t adequately address many of the health challenges facing our societies at the moment is reductionist thinking (to not be reductionist here, there are also a lot of others).
 
Human beings are complex systems, living within complex systems and environments. Our symptoms are (sometimes) caused by a biological response, but the drivers for that biological response are often complex and varied. Reductionist thinking hits the biological response (which is helpful) but not the drivers of the response (which is not).
 
Alex Murray joins me for a conversation on Complex systems theory, non specific effects, practical stuff we can do with our patients in the face of these, and the bastardisation of the concept of the Art of Healthcare.

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The Art of Healthcare
The Art of Healthcare
Why you fail your patient if you only think of them as their health problem
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Empowering patient partnerships

September 19, 2021 ChrisDesmondnz 00:40:14 0 Comments

The paradigm of (most) Healthcare professionals as the “fixer” is outdated. (Don’t get me wrong I very much appreciate the surgeons who have put me back together when I’ve busted myself).
 
 
If we want to support healthier communities, then us as the health professional need to empower our patients to take control of their health, make the healthy choices, and live their healthy lives.
 
 
Jennifer George joins me to talk about how we can do that by entering into empowering patient partnerships.
 
 
We talk through;
 
Therapeutic relationships
 
How to create partnership
 
Engaging patients that are seeking for us to “fix” them
 
What happens when patients aren’t empowered 
 
Flexing our empathy muscles
 
Why compassion, empathy, and communication are harder than a clinical skill, plus what to do about it
 
Why we need to believe in our patients
 
 

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The Art of Healthcare
The Art of Healthcare
Empowering patient partnerships
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Personalising healthcare

September 12, 2021 ChrisDesmondnz 00:42:01 0 Comments

Personalizing Healthcare to every patient is hard work right?
 
Yeah it is
 
AND
 
It’s only harder in when you get started, once you get used to it, it’s no harder than not personalizing the care you give. Plus you get better outcomes for your patients, and enjoy yourself more. 
 
Dr Nick Kimber joins me for a conversation about personalizing Healthcare. For our patients and clients.
 
We talk;

Barriers to progress when care is not personalized
Benefits of a personalized approach
Some tips to begin to personalize your approach
Becoming a key person in someone’s life
Why science is never 100% conclusive
The problem with scientific theory when we don’t extrapolate it out into practice

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The Art of Healthcare
The Art of Healthcare
Personalising healthcare
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Delivering Authentic Healthcare

September 5, 2021 ChrisDesmondnz 00:28:50 0 Comments

I’d imagine most healthcare professionals view themselves as a giving person. After all, we’re looking after patients day in day out. Most of us didn’t get into it for the cash – although some may have.
 
We can just keep giving. Giving to our patients, giving to our colleagues, giving to systems that haven’t been fully set up to support us. Giving can feel good, we feel like we’re doing something worthwhile.
 
BUT if we just keep giving without question where does that lead us? We follow a career progression not of our own choosing. We give to a system that isn’t designed to value us. When one patient goes another comes in to take their place and we start over. We stop giving to ourselves.
 
Nurse Jacqui O’Connor joins me on the podcast to talk about how we can do healthcare more authentically.
We talk through
– Burnout
– Setting our values
– Learning the tools of boundaries
 – Rubbing off on others
– Moral injury in  healthcare
– Enabling the system not to change
– Shame and guilt in healthcare
– Shaping a career path that aligns with who you are

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The Art of Healthcare
The Art of Healthcare
Delivering Authentic Healthcare
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Building vulnerability into your practice

August 29, 2021 ChrisDesmondnz 00:35:05 0 Comments

Connecting with our patients is often the hardest part of our job as health providers.
 
Often the pathology is straightforward but we just can’t seem to be able to communicate with the person in a way that elicits a positive change.
 
My mate Heather Watson reckons that to improve that connection we need to be more vulnerable. She joins us today to talk about how to build vulnerability into our practice, and our lives.
 
We talk through

What vulnerability is in a Healthcare interaction 
What can happen when we practice with vulnerability 
The barriers that pop up if we aren’t vulnerable
Fear of being wrong
Fear of blame
Iterative process in health improvement 
Being creative and curious in practice
Starting to understand yourself better
Actually SEEING your patients and their challenges, not just their diagnosis

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The Art of Healthcare
The Art of Healthcare
Building vulnerability into your practice
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What’s your real value?

August 22, 2021 ChrisDesmondnz 00:37:44 0 Comments

We all got into Healthcare to help people, and we do get to help a lot of people.
 
AND
 
A challenge for a lot of Healthcare professionals is that we dont understand the value that we deliver to our patients and clients. We undervalue ourselves, and in

Read More
The Art of Healthcare
The Art of Healthcare
What’s your real value?
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What’s your real value?

August 22, 2021 ChrisDesmondnz 00:37:44 0 Comments

We all got into Healthcare to help people, and we do get to help a lot of people.
 
AND
 
A challenge for a lot of Healthcare professionals is that we don’t understand the value that we deliver to our patients and clients. We undervalue ourselves, and in turn are undervalued by others – which makes us grumpy.
 
We all need to start to understand the value that we can provide to patients. This value isn’t just in a monetary sense, although it’s often easiest to think about it that way.
 
Victor Ahipene joins us to help us understand and articulate our value whether patients pay you, or you get funded by insurers or through the public system. It’s great for us, and plays a huge role in how we connect with our patients and how we can assist them to get better.
 
We talk through

Why being a “people person” isn’t enough to really connect with a patient
What primary rapport is, and what secondary rapport is
Why you don’t need to ask someone about their cat
Different ways you can think about your value
Why you’re doing your patients a disservice if you don’t value your skillset
Why you are an “expert”
How to set and meet expectations 
Why practice doesn’t actually make perfect

Read More
The Art of Healthcare
The Art of Healthcare
What's your real value?
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