Transformational Times
Words of Hope, Character & Resilience from our Virtual Community
Friday, December 3, 2021
The Transformational Times editors share our deepest sympathies with the victims and families affected by the tragic violence in Waukesha County. We are grateful to the many first responders and medical and surgical teams who acted quickly to help and continue to provide care.

As care of the victims of this tragedy is still ongoing, the editors have decided to publish the issue below as planned, but our hearts are with our caregivers, and the entire Waukesha community, at this time of unimaginable loss.

If you are able, consider donating to the United Waukesha Community Fund. The Fotsch Family Foundation will match donations to the “United for Waukesha Community Fund,” up to $1 million, for donations given November 29 – December 4. 
In This Kern Institute Human-Centered Design Lab Issue:
HCD Lab Director's Corner

Thank You to Kathryn (Kayt) Havens

Perspective/ Opinion

Poetry Corner
Your Turn

Announcements & Resource
HCD Lab Director's Corner

Human-Centered Design Lab: Using Empathy to Understand Others' Needs


By Karen Marcdante, MD


Dr. Marcdante, a pediatric intensive care physician and leader of Kern’s Human-Centered Design Lab, tells the story of a patient and family that illustrates the concepts of HCD and introduces the theme of this week’s Transformational Times issue … 

 
A long, long time ago, I entered medical school with the hope of becoming an excellent clinician but not having any real idea about what that would take. Every day for the first two years, I attended class and labs trying my best to learn all the information presented (which is nothing compared to what we try to fit in today!). Then I got to the clinical years and began to learn how to apply the information while building a relationship with patients and their families. I was an early believer in family-centered rounds, inviting families to hear our plans and contribute their concerns and issues. I also tried to spend time with each family in the scary and chaotic setting of a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, discussing what was happening and what may happen next. 
Thank You to Kathryn (Kayt) Havens

The Human-Centered Design Lab members would like to thank Kathryn (Kayt) Havens, MD, for her wonderful collegiality, insight and commitment to our pursuit of innovation. 

Kayt joined the lab as it was beginning and has participated in its growth, serving as a facilitator, navigator and mentor for many who have participated. 

She is retiring on January 1st and will be missed. We wish Kayt all the best for an amazing retirement and pray for safe travels, fun-filled family gatherings and continued contributions (as we know you will search out ways to give back!).

—Karen Marcdante and the Human-Centered Design Lab Members
Perspective/ Opinion

Kern's Transformational Ideas Initiative Program: A Community of Innovators


By M. Chris Decker, MD and Julia Schmitt

M. Chris Decker, MD and Julia Schmitt began working together at the Kern Institute in 2017, where they led the effort to establish the Kern Institute Human-Centered Design Lab focused on innovation and design thinking. In this article, they report on the measurements of success of the Transformational Ideas Initiative (TI2) incubator program that they helped create …


It was an unseasonably cold Monday morning in late 2017 when we arrived at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Innovation Campus. Ilya Avdeev, PhD, Director of Innovation at UWM’s Lubar Entrepreneurship Center and now a Human-Centered Design Lab (HCD) team member, invited us to attend a workshop he was teaching with Brian Thompson, Director of the UWM Lubar Entrepreneurship Center. We both had some knowledge of Stanford’s Design Thinking and the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps, but we wanted a deeper dive into the methodologies. Wow, what an experience! By the end of the interactive workshop, we could barely contain ourselves. We stood in the freezing cold parking lot for over an hour, building on each other’s ideas. We knew we could combine these methods, along with the KEEN Mindset, to develop MCW’s local brand of skills needed to help students, faculty and staff be successful at innovating the learning environment at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), and beyond. We launched the Kern Institute's Transformational Ideas Initiative (TI2) in January 2018 with the goal of teaching innovative skills to teams as they develop their projects.
Perspective/ Opinion


Mental Health First Aid Program: Continuing to Expand Throughout MCW



By Kevin Bozymski, PharmD, BCPS, BCPP and Himanshu Agrawal, MD, DF-APA

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Drs. Bozymski and Agrawal share their journey through the TI2 program and how they are continuing their project past the pilot year...


We applied to the Transformational Ideas Initiative (TI2) in January 2020 with a big idea: bring the Mental Health First Aid (MFHA) Program to the Medical College of Wisconsin and train as many people as we can. Our goal was to make MHFA as common as CPR training!
 
The TI2 program taught us the importance of thinking broadly about all the stakeholders that could be affected by such a project. By breaking it into interesting and practical exercises, the TI2 workshops helped us develop a methodology to make sure we design and execute this project right, right from the start. The TI2 grant not only gave us the monetary support for this project, it also introduced us to like-minded individuals and invaluable mentors to inculcate a culture of success.
Perspective/Opinion


Sharing is Caring, and Good Patient Care: A Reflection from November's KICS Medical Education Journal Club
 
By Michael T. Braun, PhD, Amy Farkas, MD, MS, and Kristina Kaljo, PhD


In this recap, Drs. Braun, Farkas, and Kaljo discuss how shared information can power patient care and further our goals of transformation of medical education, discussion points from the November KICS journal club event with Dr. Lyn Van Swol of the Department of Communication Arts and the University of Wisconsin-Madison ...


The November meeting of the Kern Institute Collaboration for Scholarship (KICS) Medical Education Journal Club was held on Wednesday, November 10, 2021. Our speaker was Dr. Lyn Van Swol, Professor in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Van Swol discussed her article (written with Drs. Miranda Kolb and Onur Asan) "‘We Are on the Same Page:’ The Importance of Doctors’ EHR Screen Sharing for Promoting Shared Information and Collaborative Decision-Making," published in the Journal of Communication in Healthcare.
By Shel Silverstein


Underneath the poet tree
Come and rest awhile with me
And watch the way the word web weaves
Between the shady story leaves.

The branches of the poet tree
Reach from the mountains to the sea.
So come and sit...and dream...and climb—
Just don't get hit by falling rhymes.
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I am grateful for science, vaccines and dedicated medical professionals who provide hope and healing in difficult times.

—Christopher Knight, Staff
Grateful for so many amazing colleagues. Listing them would take up this whole newsletter! A quick chat, text or coffee break with any of them adds so much joy (and laughter) to my day.

—Alicia Pilarski, DO, Faculty
I am incredibly grateful each day for my teammates Sarah, Rachel and David. I love the work that I do, and being surrounded by these intelligent, inquisitive, fun people who enjoy their work as much as I do makes it even more amazing to come to work each day.

—Meaghan Hayes, Staff
For this week's reflection prompt, please answer one of the following:


What is the best gift you have ever given or received?
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Share Your Thoughts
Naming Contest for the new MCW School of Medicine curriculum



The Curriculum Innovation Team invites you to submit your vote for the official naming of the new MCW School of Medicine curriculum. 



Call for Manuscripts
May 2023: IPE and Innovation


The May 2023 issue of the AMA Journal of Ethics® takes as its starting point that experimentation has long been a hallmark of IPE. This issue looks to illuminate interesting, important, complex, and neglected intersections of health professions' curricular goals.

Content interrogating what it means for IPE to productively influence (1) professional identity formation; (2) skill development, communication, and team-based care; (3) diagnostic openness and clinical and cultural humility; (4) and health equity will be prioritized for inclusion in this issue.

Manuscripts submitted for peer review consideration and inclusion in this issue must follow Instructions for Authors and be submitted by 30 June 2022.

Erica Chou, MD (MCW) and Michael Oldani, PhD, MS (School of Pharmacy/IPE CUW) are the guest co-editors of this issue. Inquiries can be directed to Dr. Oldani.
Kern Institute Collaboration for Scholarship Journal Club


The KICS Journal Club for Medical Education meets monthly on the second Wednesday of the month via Zoom, 12:15–1:00 PM Central. The next meeting will feature Deborah DiNardo, MD, MS, and Eliana Bonifacino, MD, MS, from the University of Pittsburg School of Medicine

Interested individuals can join the meeting via Zoom using the link below, or email Michael Braun to be added to the meeting invite.

  
Meeting ID: 921 1154 0031 
Passcode: KICSJoClub 
December 8, 2021
Zoom Presentation
12:15 - 1:00 pm CT
Join us for the January Kern Connection Cafe
Seeking Peer Outreach: An Integrated, Tiered Approach to Address Stigma and Isolation in Healthcare Education


Student Presenters: Meg Lieb, Marissa O’Hair, Justin York, and Cassandra Balson

Please join us for a student-led discussion that will focus on a student-led initiative to address mental health and promote suicide prevention among medical students at MCW. This presentation will describe the "Seeking Peer Outreach Initiative" currently underway at the Central Wisconsin Campus and its potential application to the MCW community at large, as well as in the communities we serve.  
 
Following the presentation, there will be an opportunity for discussion with the panel members to explore practical strategies for adoption of the "Seeking Peer Outreach Initiative" in our varied settings.  

January 27, 2022
Zoom Presentation
4:00 - 5:00 pm CT  
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