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Schwartz Rounds®: Sharing and Compassion
A capacity crowd turned out to hear four faculty and staff softly relive events and share their emotions as each recalled a specific time when they cared for a patient and their family. The frank presentations — some highlighting the emotional toll following the unexpected death of a child — brought tears to those listening. In many corners of the room, employees, faculty and staff nodded and understood. They also had experienced similar emotions. Soon, many in the audience began sharing their own thoughts.
“It was beyond helpful to hear the panelists speak first,” says one attendee, Briana Miller, MS, ATR, PLPC, an art therapist in hematology/oncology. “They touched on some of the harder realities of the work we do in a way that welcomed us to share our own experiences in a safe and comfortable way.”
The SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital event was the second Schwartz Rounds, a caregiver program offered in health care organizations throughout the United States and around the world. “When we experience hard things, we often put our heads down and just keep doing our jobs,” says Miller. “However, the grief doesn’t go away when ignored; it festers and grows until it becomes too much, and then you can’t ignore it anymore. We’re not indestructible. We need support at times, too.”
“Half of the program was devoted to open sharing, which creates this culture of ‘we are not alone,’” agrees Angie Filipiak, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, program manager of the Hospital’s Care for Caregivers Program and a member of the steering committee that brought Schwartz Rounds to the Hospital as a valuable resource for all employees. “I was surprised at the amount of sharing. It was standing room only in the back. The response and participation highlight the fact that we are all human and we all are impacted by the care we provide, the people we interact with and the patients and families we serve.”
“They touched on some of the harder realities of the work we do in a way that welcomed us to share our own experiences in a safe and comfortable way.”
Schwartz Rounds will be held quarterly with different topics and panelists. It is another resource for SSM Health Cardinal Glennon’s own Care for Caregivers program. Filipiak’s full-time position is funded by donations to SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Foundation. It enables her to be proactive throughout the Hospital, checking on employees at all levels and providing confidential one-to-one opportunities for them to open up and share thoughts. “It can be in my office, in a department or over the phone,” says Filipiak. “Our trained peer supporters and I listen, offer self-care and coping strategies or additional resources, and show them that someone cares.”
Filipiak’s full-time position is the first within SSM Health systemwide. Plans are in the works to create more positions like hers and to broaden the reach of Schwartz Rounds. “It’s OK not to be OK and to ask for help,” Filipiak stresses. “You can’t take care of somebody unless you take care of yourself.”
