The Arnold P. Gold Foundation is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2018 Picker Gold Graduate Medical Education Challenge Grants, two exceptional projects designed to improve compassionate, patient-centered care and foster excellent communication skills in the clinical learning environment.
The awardees are:
- Paul Haidet, MD, MPH, Director of Medical Education Research, Professor of Medicine, Humanities, and Public Health Sciences at Penn State College of Medicine. Dr. Haidet’s grant supports the development and evaluation of a multifaceted, system–based intervention to foster deliberate practice of communication skills among residency trainees.
- Cheryl T. Lee, MD, Dorothy M. Davis Endowed Chair in Cancer Research, Professor and Chairman, Department of Urology The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, and Tasha Posid, PhD, Assistant Professor of Urology, Department of Urology The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. The grant for Drs. Lee and Posid supports the development and evaluation of a cross-cultural intervention for urology residents to better understand patient attitudes and perceptions and to improve empathic communication with their highly diverse patient population.
Dr. Paul Haidet and Dr. Cheryl Lee, recipients of the 2018 Picker Gold Challenge Grants. (A photo of Dr. Posid was not available.)
The Picker Gold Graduate Medical Education Challenge Grant Program supports the research and development of successful patient-centered care initiatives and best practices in the education of our country’s future physicians. Each Picker Gold award of up to $25,000 is matched by equal funding from the researchers’ medical institution.
“The Picker-Gold Challenge Grants facilitate the application of innovative programs that enhance compassionate, collaborative, and scientifically excellent care,” said Elizabeth Cleek, PsyD, Gold Foundation Chief Program Officer. “I am so excited for each of these programs to be realized and equally excited for their findings to be disseminated so that patient-centered communication strategies, and culturally humble interventions that result in more effective treatment can be spread widely.”
Building Systems to Foster Deliberate Practice of Communication Skills
Dr. Haidet and his colleagues understand that practice is essential for proficiency in any area. Traditionally, communication training for new physicians takes place in the classroom or online, without substantial time for practicing these new and often complex skills. Dr. Haidet writes, “Our overall goal is to produce physicians whose communication patterns engender trust, foster shared-decisions, and maximize the potential of the healing relationship with the patients they serve.” Throughout the grant period, Dr. Haidet and his colleagues will provide formal training, clinic-based practice time, and a robust evaluation process to help residents hone these critical skills. Dr. Haidet has participated in Gold Foundation conferences and is the recipient of a Gold Foundation grant titled “Jazz and the Art of Medicine.”
A “Global Health” Experience for Resident Cross-Cultural Training
Medical residents in the Columbus, Ohio, area encounter a highly diverse patient population, both culturally and economically. The work of Drs. Lee and Posid aims to inspire urology residents to address inequities in underserved populations and patient care through improved communication, cultural sensitivity, and directed patient education. With input from a patient advisory panel, and from residents working with vulnerable patient populations at a local clinic, Drs. Lee and Posid will develop and evaluate an educational program to deliver culturally competent care. Results from this project will provide the foundation for a novel, cross-platform (live visit, tele-visit, mobile visit) intervention, which could be utilized at other urology programs nationally.
Read more about the Picker Gold Graduate Medical Education Challenge Grants and the 2017 awardees.
