Bedside Matters, a monthly rounds geared toward helping Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) employees deal with social and emotional issues in caring for patients and families, has launched a new website with online videos of the sessions, which nurses can now watch to get contact hours.
The brown-bag lunch event takes place on the third Wednesday of each month in 214 Light Hall from noon to 1 p.m. Previously, the educational opportunity was only available to people who had time in their schedule to attend. Now, the event is streamed live online and archived, so that VUMC employees can watch it on demand.
“Wednesday at noon is not an ideal time for everybody,” said Walter Merrill, M.D., professor of Cardiac Surgery and a key organizer of the event.
The website can be found here.
Merrill hopes the online session will increase participation in the monthly program, which regularly draws 20 to 60 participants. The online program is also more accessible to employees who work outside the main Vanderbilt campus at locations such as Vanderbilt Health One Hundred Oaks.
Contact hours are available by watching the event live or online, but Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits are currently only available for the live event.
Bedside Matters began in September 2013 as an expansion of a similar event called Schwartz Center Rounds, which was held within the Oncology Center. The expanded program encompasses the entire Medical Center, and allows caregivers to have an open and honest dialogue about the social and emotional issues they face in caring for patients and their families.
“It’s one of the very few instances within the organization that allows one to share very personal aspects of the care of patients,” Merrill said. “It’s a very rich environment for sharing.”
For example, the June program focused on caring for a patient who is also a co-worker. Panelists are interprofessionals.
The next program, on July 20, is called “Behind Closed Doors: The Truth about your Patient’s Discharge Disposition.” Julia Triplett, MSN, MBA, will lead the session.
Future programs will focus on end-of-life matters in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, homeless psychiatry, geriatrics and the complex care team.
