Celebrating 10 Years of Schwartz Center Rounds!

For a decade, Schwartz Center Rounds have given our health care providers time during work to discuss openly and honestly the social and emotional side of caring for patients and families.

We celebrated the milestone at the last bi-monthly Schwartz Center Rounds in November: Honoring Our Commitment to Compassionate Care: Ten Years of Schwartz Center Rounds at Carilion!

Schwartz Center Rounds is a program offered by The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare, a national organization committed to supporting caregivers, health care leaders and others, and bringing compassion to health care experiences.

At each Rounds a panel of Carilion employees present a brief presentation on a particular patient case or topic. Participants are then invited to share their personal stories and perspectives on the case and broader related issues.

Although health care organizations around the world are Schwartz Center members and hold Schwartz Center Rounds, many hospitals don’t make this program available to their caregivers.

So, how did Schwartz come to Carilion?

The Beginning

In 2012, Phyllis Whitehead, Ph.D., clinical ethicist and clinical nurse specialist in Palliative Medicine, led a group of researchers who were looking for a way to improve teamwork, collaboration and communication among clinicians.

Joan Fisher, M.D., a well-known Pediatric Hematology/Oncology physician, suggested the Schwartz Center Rounds after learning about the program at a pediatrics conference.

A planning committee was formed and Dr. Whitehead and Dr. Fisher began presenting at numerous executive meetings, including one with CEO Nancy Howell Agee. She quickly agreed Carilion should be part of the Schwartz Center Rounds program.

Dr. Whitehead, Dr. Fisher and former Chaplain director Richard Brown attended training and launched the first Schwartz Center Rounds in 2013: Emotional Impact of the Unexpected: Fungal Meningitis. The discussion was based on an experience with contaminated steroids from a vendor and the devastating impact it had on our patients, families and each other.

The first Rounds was powerful; they tackled current health care challenges and had 63 participants.

Today

“Boy have we grown over the years,” says Dr. Whitehead. “Even a pandemic could not and would not stop us.”

Today Schwartz Center Rounds reach over 150 clinicians at each Rounds and over a thousand clinicians annually. They have been the foundation for initiating the TRUST team, normalizing family witnessed resuscitation and tackling challenging issues.

“They (Schwartz Center Rounds) truly have been instrumental in building a just and collaborative work environment at Carilion, “says Dr. Whitehead. “But our work is not done; we have many more topics to cover over the next 10 years!”

For more information about Schwartz Center Rounds and the upcoming topics, contact Phyllis Whitehead, Clinical Ethics, at pbwhitehead@carilionclinic.org.