rounds Archives
My New Year’s resolution: Rounds — A message from Dr. Jeff Balser, President and CEO
Dec. 30, 2021—I typically avoid New Year’s resolutions. Perhaps it’s because I typically fail miserably in maintaining whatever I commit to – whether it’s losing a few pounds, or drinking less coffee. It’s not that the resolutions aren’t things I need to do. I just get preoccupied by the myriad challenges – expected and unexpected – and...
Rounds: Hard conversations
Sep. 22, 2021—Difficult conversations are a hallmark of medicine. Patients and their families rely on us to share the facts about their illnesses that are sometimes hard to hear. While many clinicians begin to do this while training, our effectiveness in these conversations develops throughout a career. Telling a young mother she has an aggressive cancer or...
Rounds: “Simply Unfinished:” Our path to vaccination
Feb. 22, 2021—I was among the millions moved by the poetic words of Amanda Gorman, the National Youth Poet Laureate who spoke so eloquently at the Presidential Inauguration. The many inequities in opportunity ingrained in race and ethnicity have become all the more visible in the COVID-19 pandemic. People of color have shouldered a disproportionate burden of...
Rounds: A Holiday Gift
Dec. 21, 2020—Against the noisy background of masking debates, surges, flattening curves, warp speed initiatives, conflicting messages and misinformation, political controversies, not to mention a revolutionary mRNA technology, millions of people are deciding whether to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
Rounds: Pouring a cup of ambition as the journey wears on
Nov. 30, 2020—In the midst of a long, hard trek, we are inclined to focus on the miles remaining — forgetting all the terrain we’ve already conquered. Taking a few moments to reflect on where we started and how far we’ve come can replenish resilience, restoring vital energy to keep moving.
Rounding based on acuity helps preserve attention of clinicians
May. 21, 2020—Multidisciplinary teams conducting daily rounds in intensive care units will typically work their way down hallways, going from one patient to the next based on spatial proximity.
Rounds: A tagline to remember
Feb. 19, 2020— Defining personalized care. It’s a tagline that has appeared in our marketing on social media, billboards and even primetime TV. About 1.7 million Middle Tennessee Super Bowl viewers watched Vanderbilt Health ads showcasing this tagline with compelling stories of how our science, training and clinical expertise bring a distinctive, personalized care experience to patients...
Rounds: Making ‘fresh starts’ all year
Jan. 7, 2020—Any new cycle—whether it’s a new year, week, rotation or first day after a holiday—is a chance to “wipe away” disappointments from losing sight of a goal or getting bogged down by demands to start anew with a clean slate, writes Jeff Balser, MD, PhD.
Rounds: Lessons on reducing waste from a DIY handyman
Dec. 5, 2019—My father-in-law, Ron, was an accomplished businessman who prided himself as a quintessential do-it-yourself guy when it came to home repairs. I, being a good son-in-law, listened attentively trying to absorb his sage advice given I’m somewhat more challenged by these tasks.
Mass shootings: what we can’t control, and what we can
Aug. 15, 2019—The alarming number of mass shootings around the country is, without a doubt, ratcheting up anxiety as people wonder when our neighbors, our first responders, our teams could be called into action. And worst of all, the fear that we or people we know will be victims.
Wrist bands to name tags: new faces and stories fuel VUMC – Rounds
Jul. 11, 2019—Dr. Jeff Balser, CEO, started to learn how a person’s story impacts health and delivering care as a high school student selling newspapers room to room.
Rounds: A message from the President and CEO of VUMC
Nov. 16, 2017—Over the year, Congress has repeatedly attempted to “fix” healthcare by altering the funding streams between states and the federal government, as well as to commercial insurers. All of this might lead one to think that Congress is focused on the most important problems facing healthcare.
