At the University of Colorado School of Medicine, students learn to be empathetic and caring doctors by understanding patients’ illnesses within the context of their lives. They do this through communication courses, which are integrated into all 4 years. Students are recorded on video doing role plays with patient actors, which experts watch and critique from a control booth (left). Kirsten Broadfoot, communication skills specialist, and Donnie Bette, video technician, discuss how medical students are communicating with their patients.
Creating Compassionate, Empathetic New Docs By Madeline Schroeder t a recent doctor visit after two weeks of feeling miserable, the doctor patted me on the back and said, “You’re definitely sick. I’m sorry.” That simple gesture gave so much relief I almost hugged him. He understood and compassionately expressed he felt bad for me. I had never experienced such a human moment with a doctor before. Along with diagnosis and treatment, doctors provide emotional support in what are often stressful times for patients. This dual role as social workers and medical providers is a more recent idea. Search the National Library of Medicine and a slew of articles pop up about the
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growing importance of physician communication and “emotional intelligence.” “We think communication is a key skill in being a physician and healing and sharing people’s lives,” Dennis Boyle says. He has helped develop the communication program at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. When Boyle went to medical school in the ’70s, empathy wasn’t a valued skill in medicine. He remembers one slide about it: “Be nice to patients.” He now teaches practicing physicians, who like himself never learned it in medical school, how to communicate and connect emotionally. “It’s about taking the communication techniques and building them into your
style. It’s not just a thing you do, it’s a part of you,” Boyle says. At CU, communication is taught with rigor from day one and continues throughout the four years. Some students from day one can naturally communicate and express compassion; others have compassion, but struggle showing it; and some, though not uncaring people, only speak in clinical terms. Associate Director of Communications Deborah Seymour believes medical school can help students learn to be caring and understand illnesses within the context of patients’ lives. CU uses the Calgary-Cambridge approach, a set of 72 skills on how to hear a
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patient’s story and respond “empathetically, clinically, humanly and professionally.” Students practice communication at the school’s Center for Advancing Professional Excellence (CAPE)—a fake (but very convincing) clinical setting equipped with manikins that have pulses and make breathing sounds. There are 15 outpatient exam rooms, three consultation rooms, and three simulation rooms that can be transformed to look like an ER, inpatient hospital room, labor and delivery suite, or operating room. No other simulation rooms exist in the Rocky Mountain region. Students are filmed interacting with patient-actors while communication coaches watch in real time from a control booth.
Obstetrics
Obstetrics
Pregnancy is a special time in your life. At University OB, our close-knit group of physicians specializes in obstetrics and gynecology. We each take time to meet you during your pregnancy, so you’ll have a familiar face by your side when it comes time to deliver.
Ask for any of us by name when you call to schedule an appointment. Dr. Sarah Appleton • Dr. Christine Conageski • Dr. Maryam Guiahi Dr. Jennifer Holmes • Dr. Jane Limmer • Dr. Stephen Rotholz
We have two locations to serve you: » University of Colorado Hospital, Anschutz Outpatient Pavilion » University Internal Medicine & Specialty Care, Lowry
720-848-4265 University of Colorado Hospital • Children’s Hospital Colorado • University of Colorado School of Medicine
Get to Know Dr. Jane Limmer Jane Limmer completed her undergraduate work at Dartmouth College and her Ob/Gyn training at Harvard Medical School and Duke University. She is committed to providing patients with individualized care during pregnancy and is especially interested in prenatal and postpartum fitness. She lives in Stapleton and spends her free time hiking and cycling with her husband and family.
March 2015 14 Stapleton Front Porch