Doctor Informed

Life Support - Being a compassionate colleague

In this episode of Doctor Informed, Clara Munro is joined by Ayisha Ashmore - and they're getting to grips with being a compassionate colleague.
While the topic might seem warm and fuzzy, there's some good hard science to suggest that compassionate leadership at every level of healthcare can make a huge difference to staff, and improve patient outcomes.
Most people innately have the skills need to be compassionate colleagues - but often the pressures of the job can make it the lowest of priorities in our everyday interactions.
Our two guests this week think that's wrong though - and say that compassionate leadership is one of the most important things to get right.
Joining us are, Michael West, senior fellow at The King's Fund and professor of Work and Organisational Psychology at Lancaster, and Bob Klaber, consultant general paediatrician and director of strategy, research and innovation at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Michael has written the book on compassionate leadership in health and social care - https://tinyurl.com/vh55mker.
You can read more about Bob's work in his blog - https://www.imperial.nhs.uk/about-us/blog/how-acts-of-kindness-can-improve-care-and-strengthen-teams
Ayisha has written about putting some of this all into practice in a maternity setting - https://bmjleader.bmj.com/content/early/2021/11/25/leader-2021-000449

Doctor Informed - The patterns which emerge

When you hear the reports from a major patient safety issue, it will be shocking to hear how they have played out - but the patterns in behaviour, of people and institutions which have gone disastrously wrong, can be seen throughout healthcare.
As this first series of Doctor Informed unfolds, we'll be exploring these patterns, and bring you evidence and expertise on tackling them - Doctor Informed is about going beyond medical knowledge to make you the best doctor you can be.
In this first episode we're talking to experts who have seen these patterns firsthand, and whose work is all about tackling them;
Bill Kirkup is a clinician turned investigator - he's led investigations into failings at a maternity and neonatal unit in Morcambe Bay, into the Oxford paediatric cardiac surgery unit and into Jimmy Savile’s involvement with Broadmoor Hospital. He was also a member of the Hillsborough Independent Panel
Mary Dixon-Woods is director of THIS Insitute, and a Health Foundation Professor of Healthcare Improvement Studies in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge. Her work is concerned with generating a high quality evidence-base to support the organisation, quality and safety of care delivered to patients.

Introducing Doctor Informed

Doctor Informed is a new podcast for hospital doctors, from The BMJ - created in collaboration with THIS Institute, and sponsored by Medical Protection.
Medical expertise is fundamental to the practice of medicine. But other skills and knowledge are important too. Doctor Informed gives the inside story on the evidence about giving the best care and having positive relationships with patients and colleagues.
In this trailer, meet two of the hosts of Doctor Informed - Clara Munro, a surgical trainee in the North East Deanery, and Jenni Burt, senior social scientist at THIS Institute.
www.bmj.com/podcasts/doctorinformed