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Transformational Times
Words of Hope, Character & Resilience from our Virtual Community
Friday, November 4, 2022
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The current Kern Scholars wish to share their experiences in the program through the following articles: | |
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Your Turn
Upcoming Events/Announcements
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Perspective/Opinion
Reflections on Character Education – My Journey as a Kern Scholar
By Jeff Fritz, PhD
At the Kern Institute, we invest in growing MCW’s capacity to ensure that our educational programs and our culture are infused with character and caring. We do this in many ways; through the KINETIC³ programs, our Grand Rounds, Connection Cafes and Conferences and significant investments in individuals who are eager and able to spend considerable time in their own professional development through the Kern Institute Scholars Program.
Kern Scholars include our 2-year post-Doctoral program and support for formal advanced training. In this issue we highlight our current Scholars who have pursued advanced degrees, starting with Dr. Jeff Fritz, the Director of the Kern Institute Scholars Program, who reflects on his journey as a Kern Scholar and what he has learned over the past three years. He shares that this work has convinced him that if medical education focuses on “human flourishing,” it will equip students to develop their knowledge, skills, and agency within an inclusive, diverse, and psychologically supportive environment…
I brought a lifelong curiosity about personal and professional development when I joined the Kern Institute in 2017. Those were the early days of the Kern Institute. Early conversations with Dr. Michael Lund and Dr. Ryan Spellecy on assessing character–especially on one’s worst days—reignited this curiosity and drove me to seek to better understand the role of character education in the realm of medical education.
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Perspective/Opinion
When Teachers Go Back to School – Kern Scholars in the Master of Health Professions Education (MHPE) Program
By Erin Green, MD and Denise Cook-Snyder, PhD
Dr. Green and Dr. Cook-Snyder provide different perspectives on their experiences as Kern Scholars in the MHPE program, a two-year, part-time program offered through New York University in collaboration with Maastricht University…
Dr. Green reflects on learning the language of medical education and gaining confidence as an educator through the MHPE program.
As I began my journey as an educator at MCW-Green Bay, I quickly realized I wanted to learn more about education including learning theory and literature to best serve our students. I quickly started to explore enrolling in a Master of Health Professions Education program. However, I was a bit intimidated about taking on the student role again. I decided to enroll in the KINETIC³ Teaching Academy as a first step in exploring my interest in learning more about teaching. It was a wonderful experience and after completing the program, I had the opportunity to collaborate with Dr. Jeff Fritz and Dr. Roy Long to teach a session within the next cohort of the KINETIC³ Teaching Academy. Throughout this time, I continued to look at the different programs available, then I saw a Kern Scholars opportunity for the MHPE program through NYU/Maastricht. With the support of Dr. Matthew Hunsaker, Dr. Adina Kalet, and Dr. Ali Harrington I applied and was accepted to begin the program in 2021.
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Perspective/Opinion
Kern Scholar in Process
By David Marks, MD, MBA – Professor / Vice Chair of Medicine and Senior Medical Director for Access and Analytics
Dr. Marks reflects on the confluence of opportunities that led him to become a Kern Scholar with the Jubilee Centre and an unexpected pivot in his efforts…
In multiple roles, I have investigated tools and technology to improve decision-making and care. Prior to the pandemic, I used an MCW Faculty Vitality Award to explore the implications of machine learning and other artificial intelligence instruments in our practice. Due to many challenges during the pandemic, I sought out the Kern Fellowship to provide greater ethical contour in introducing decision tools and prescriptive analytics in both patient care and hospital operations. While these analytic tools provide great benefit, I want to address potential systemic error, bias, and alienation of patients and teams as we adopt and implement the technology. After our collective response to COVID and the practice recovery, I am exploring the ethical and moral boundaries of academic medicine, hospital/practice operations, clinical investigation, and technologic advancement.
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Perspective/Opinion
My Journey to the Formal Study of Character Education
By Julia Schmitt
Ms. Schmitt reflects on her professional journey, which led her to pursue a Masters of Character Education at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom …
Character, Competence, and Caring - the “3Cs” - were the foundation of the Kern Institute and the Kern National Network at its launch in 2017. They hooked me at the very first word, character. It was the focus on character education that drew me to MCW and the newly founded Kern Institute.
My first introduction to character education was in my teaching career. As a 6th/7th grade STEM teacher in the Wauwatosa School District, I had a front-row seat to the drama of middle school social culture. My colleagues and I worked hard to cultivate a "culture of character” based on compassion and kindness towards one another, as well as helping students to develop performance virtues like grit, resilience and optimism.
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Final Autumn
By Annie Finch
Maple leaves turn black in the courtyard.
Light drives lower and one bluejay crams
our cold memories out past the sun,
each time your traces come past the shadows
and visit under my looking-glass fingers
that lift and block out the sun.
Come—I’ll trace you one final autumn,
and you can trace your last homecoming
into the snow or the sun.
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Reflection Prompt - Readers answer the following question:
Tell us the bravest thing you've done in your life?
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I was in my very first nursing clinical with 7 other students. We were gathered in the entryway of a long-term care facility we were entering for the first time, awaiting our first clinical assignments. Prior to the instructor returning to the group, there was some nervous conversation about what kind of patients we might be given. One student stated, "I hope I don't get someone with a smelly ostomy." She was unaware that I have lived with an ostomy since the age of 11. I decided to talk with the instructor and offered to address the class on what it is like to live with one, and answered all manner of questions. I hoped this act of bravery would lead to more empathy and informed care.
--Christina Megal, Faculty
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Leave a job where I loved my clinical work and colleagues because of toxic leadership. Often times we are made to feel as if we should be thankful to be in medicine, especially in academics, and we end up going above and beyond for the sake of patient care. The pandemic has really brought to the forefront how important issues of burnout, toxic workplace culture, and overall well-being are. More conversations have to happen about how we can provide the best care for our patients while modifying the conventional medical institutional culture to encompass the needs of all parties.
--Name withheld
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For this week's reflection prompt, please answer the following question:
If you could go on a road trip with any person (dead or alive), who would you choose and where would you go?
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Congratulations to Wendy Peltier, MD on her promotion to Professor; Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatric and Palliative Medicine
Dr. Peltier is a faculty member in the Division of Geriatric and Palliative Medicine with a longstanding interest in medical education. She received her MD degree from Rush Medical College and completed residency in Neurology and a Neuromuscular Fellowship at the University of Michigan. During her time at MCW she served as Neurology Residency Director for a decade, and was a recipient of the MCW Faculty Vitality Award. in2011, which led to a focus in Palliative Medicine. She served as Palliative Care Section Head for eight years and was involved in bringing inpatient hospice services to FMLH in partnership with Horizon Home Care and Hospice. She now serves on the Kern Institute Faculty Pillar and is on the editorial board of the Transformational Times. She was the recipient of the MCW Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award in 2021.
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Kern Scholars Program Faculty Development Opportunities
We are excited to announce two opportunities for faculty development through our Kern Scholars Program. Each year we support one Kern Scholar in each of the following programs:
Masters of Health Professions Education through New York University Langone's Department of Medicine
Master of Arts in Character Education at the Jubilee Center for Character and Virtues at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.
Letters of Interest are due to Jeff Fritz in December. Learn more through the link below.
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Please Join Us!
KICS Journal Club with Susan Nathan, MD
Register to join us at our monthly Kern Institute Collaboration for Scholarship Medical Education Journal Club! Each month, we discuss recent medical education scholarship with its author for a lively, intimate conversation about the transformation of medical education.
In November, for a special Veteran's Day event, Dr. Nathan will be discussing the VA project My Life My Story and the use of narrative medicine in medical education.
Dr. Nathan is Instructor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and is a Geriatrician and Hospice Palliative Medicine Physician at the VA Boston. She has a strong interest in narrative medicine and is the site director of the My Life My Story Project at the Boston VA.
November 9, 2022
12:15 - 1:00 pm CT
Live Via Zoom
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Share your Perspective: The Impact of Recent Reproductive Health Policy Changes on your Professional and Academic Roles in the MCW Community
Sponsored by the Council for Women's Advocacy
This event will focus on the ways that recent changes to reproductive health laws have and will impact your professional and academic roles. We hope to hear from individuals throughout the MCW community, including students, trainees, staff, and faculty. Individuals will have the opportunity to share their experiences for two minutes each so we have time to hear from as many people as possible. There will also be an opportunity to anonymously submit stories prior to the meeting which will then be read during the event.
While we recognize this is a sensitive and often very personal topic, this event is not intended to be a debate. Instead, it is an opportunity to discuss the impact of these laws through a professional and academic lens. All MCW voices are welcome.
To share an anonymous experience, please click HERE.
If you have questions, please contact AWSM@mcw.edu.
November 18, 2022
12:00 - 1:00 pm CT
Live Via Zoom
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EXPERIENCE. TALK. LISTEN.
Join the Next Med Moth Event
Come to MCW’s Med Moth, a storytelling event with faculty and students sharing their own true experiences in the world of medicine. Inspired by The Moth, this event will entail authentic storytelling and an enlightening audience experience.
November 17, 2022
6:30 pm CT
Alumni Center
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Educating Character Across The University
Dr. Cornel West - author, activist, philosopher, public intellectual, and civil rights leader, will kick off a major conference at Wake Forest University entitled "Educating Character Across The University" on December 1-3. The Program for Leadership and Character has invited him to take part in a moderated discussion about character and education. The event will be free and open to the public.
Over the following two days, the conference will highlight promising work on character education in the university context and strengthen a community of scholars across institutions and academic communities. Co-sponsored by the Oxford Character Project at the University of Oxford, the conference will feature presentations, panels, and workshops focused on integrating character into courses, designing character-related co-curricular programming, assessing character-related curricula and programs, and building a culture of character within colleges and universities.
While the keynote with Dr. West is open to all and requires no advance registration, the conference itself is aimed at educators and administrators from colleges and universities across the nation and the world. Workshops, panels, and networking events are scheduled from the morning of December 2 until noon on December 3.
December 1-3, 2022
Wake Forest University
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The Transformational Times publishes weekly, delivering stories of hope, character and resilience to our virtual community. | |
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Jeff Fritz, PhD, Editor-in-Chief
Editorial Board: Bruce Campbell, MD, Kathlyn Fletcher, MD, Adina Kalet, MD, Wendy Peltier, MD, Erin Weileder, Nabil Attlassy, Julia Bosco, Ana Istrate, Wolf Pulsiano, Eileen Peterson, Anna Visser, James Wu & Emelyn Zaworski
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Reproductive system vector created by pikisuperstar - www.freepik.com | | | | | |
