Schwartz Center Rounds at United Hospital, St. Paul

I'm pleased to learn that United Hospital has launched Schwartz Center Rounds, and has had two successful rounds this spring. Schwartz Center Rounds help caregivers provide compassionate care by allowing them to reflect on difficult emotional and spiritual problems they encounter in their work. During my time as a chaplain resident at United Hospital, I had a small role in the initial promotion of this project, and am gratified that it is off to a successful start. Glad to see a shoutout for Verlyn Hemmen, a great CPE supervisor and key organizer for this project.

A posting on Bedside Manner, the Schwartz Center blog, describes the inaugural rounds at United Hospital:

Big Caregivers Don’t Cry

Raindrops
Originally uploaded by Joolz Perry

The hospital case was a difficult one: a dying mother with seven school-aged children, an angry husband, and the patient’s sister who constantly clashed with the husband over medical decisions once the patient could no longer make her own.

It was a perfect case for Schwartz Center Rounds, a program now taking place at 195 health care facilities across the country, where caregivers talk about cases like this one, challenging for emotional – not medical – reasons.

These were the inaugural Rounds for United Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota and hospital chaplain Verlyn D. Hemmen, who facilitated the session, told me that they were a huge success, with about 120 doctors, nurses, social workers, administrators and others in attendance. .... Continue reading...