Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy

February 10, 2025

Regional Hospitals adopt Vanderbilt Health professional accountability programs

The Vanderbilt Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy has exported its system for professional accountability to some 300 hospitals and physician groups around the country. Now it’s the turn for Vanderbilt Health’s Regional Hospitals.

By Paul Govern
June 18, 2024

Study tallies reports of unprofessional behavior among physicians

Reports from 193 hospitals were analyzed. It turns out that surgeons draw the most complaints.

By Paul Govern
May 16, 2024

Clinician accountability program from VUMC associated with large savings

A program run by Vanderbilt University Medical Center that provides peer feedback to high-risk clinicians was associated with a significant decrease in malpractice claims costs at a large orthopaedic surgery practice, according to a recent study.

By Paul Govern
April 13, 2023

Low-professionalism residents later draw higher patient complaints: study

A Vanderbilt study finds a strong association between lower ratings for interpersonal communication skills among medical residents in their last year of training and greater likelihood of unsolicited patient complaints among doctors during their first year of employment after training.

By Paul Govern
January 3, 2023

Study shows peer messaging tool can be successfully implemented in the nursing workforce

A new study shows that a tool developed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center to address disrespectful workplace behaviors through trained peer-to-peer messaging can be successfully implemented in the nursing workforce with the appropriate support.

By Matt Batcheldor
July 7, 2022

Professionalism and patient outcomes

A study of more than 70,000 trauma patients found that those who received care from a service with a high proportion of physicians modeling unprofessional behavior were at a 24% increased risk of death or complications.

By Paul Govern
April 9, 2020

VUMC study named as JAMA Surgery’s top paper

The world’s No.1 ranked surgery journal, JAMA Surgery, has announced that a June 2019 study led by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center was the journal’s top paper of the year as measured by Altmetric Attention Score.
By Paul Govern
December 19, 2019

Hickson named to new VUMC leadership roles

Gerald Hickson, MD, Joseph C. Ross Professor of Medical Education and Administration, will assume new leadership and advisory roles with the Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy (CPPA) and the Vanderbilt Health Affiliated Network (VHAN), beginning Jan. 1, 2020.
By John Howser
June 19, 2019

Patients of surgeons with higher reports of unprofessional behaviors are more likely to suffer complications

Patients of surgeons with higher numbers of reports from co-workers about unprofessional behavior are significantly more likely to experience complications during or after their operations, researchers from Vanderbilt University Medical Center reported June 19.
By Bill Snyder
February 15, 2017

Patient complaints can identify surgeons with higher rates of bad surgical outcomes: study

Recording and analyzing patient and family reports about rude and disrespectful behavior can identify surgeons with higher rates of surgical site infections and other avoidable adverse outcomes, according to a study led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) investigators in collaboration with six other major academic health systems.
By Jill Clendening
July 7, 2016

VUMC center lands AOA professionalism award

Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society has named the Vanderbilt Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy (CPPA) as the sole recipient of the 2016 Edward D. Harris Professionalism Award.
By Nancy Humphrey
April 21, 2016

Medical professionals can change their behavior: study

Disrespectful and unsafe behavior by physicians and advanced practice medical professionals can undermine health care teams, but research shows that often a simple conversation to make an individual aware of their action can promote self-reflection and change.
By Jill Clendening
January 15, 2015

VU health professionals course headed for Australia

Vanderbilt’s Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy (CPPA) has announced a partnership with the Cognitive Institute, an international health care education provider based in Australia.
By Paul Govern
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