Day 3 Morning

We started this last day with a session on Curriculum Design by Dr. Morgan Soffler (@msoffler). Although other design methods exist, she focused on Kern’s 6 step curriculum design: problem identification, targeted needs assessment, goals &objectives, educational strategies, implementation, evaluation & feedback. Dr. Soffler stressed that this is not a linear process and is iterative. We also spent the last few minutes thinking about how to use AI for curriculum development.

 Next, we had an enthusiastic talk from Dr. Ted James (@tedjamesmd) about leading change in medical education. Dr. James inspired us to go back to the groups or organizations we lead and make some changes thinking about the enthusiasts, champions, skeptics, obstructors. We had a great discussion about how everyone hates change and how it’s crucial when making changes to start with the question – what problem are we trying to solve? Ted shared the steps to leading change:

o   VISION

o   STRATEGY

o   RESOURCES (finances, facilities)

o   DEMONSTRATION OF IMPACT

He ended sharing the inspiring painting School of Athens by Raphael and left us with this great quote:

“What you leave behind you is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” – Pericles

We ended the course with a phenomenal talk by Dr. Kerri Palamara (@PalamaraMcgrath) on well-being and coaching. She highlighted the importance of burnout (see figure) but then asked us to shift our thinking and focus on well-being not on burnout.

She taught us that general well-being is a state of being comfortable, happy, or healthy. She made the important point that burnout is an obstacle to well-being, but absence of burnout ¹ well-being. She spent some time talking about putting well-being and wellness together (see figure below: https://www.knoll.com/knollnewsdetail/whats-good-for-people-moving-from-wellness-to-well-being)

She also made the important point that well-being starts with us. We should set the tone for our teams. Our styles and approaches send a message of what we value and we think is important. We can’t authentically have compassion for others until we have compassion for ourselves.

She then shared that one way to help with well-being is to use coaching. She shared the different types of coaching: coaching in the moment, performance coaching, developmental coaching. She shared the differences between coaches and mentors and three coaching skills we can all put into place:

o   Listening to understand (vs. listening to help/fix) /empathic listening!

o   Power of Reflecting

o   Asking powerful questions – asking questions to empower looking toward the future; ask questions for THEM not for YOU; point your curiosity outward to ignite them 

She also taught us about weaving in positive psychology throughout the day! Think about glimmers of gratitude and positivity.