A Conversation on a Conversation: How to Prepare, Engage, and Reflect on Whole Person Care Conversations with Patients
Johnna Torres, Michael Zhang, Pedro Choque, Megan Ervin, Morgan Green,MD, and Andrew Wai, MD, MPH, Loma Linda University School of Medicine, Loma Linda, CA
Whole person care, an approach that integrates compassionate listening and spiritual awareness into clinical practice, offers patients a more holistic support system that reaches beyond traditional medical convention. This panel, titled "A Conversation on a Conversation," explores the framework of orienting, engaging, and debriefing to effectively conduct whole person care rounds with third year medical students.
We will discuss how preparing for these interactions begins with a facilitator-led orientation discussing approaches to whole person care conversations, potential participant hesitations, and best practices for patient interactions before entering the patient's room. Patients are selected by the facilitator based on the appropriateness for both spiritual conversations and medical teaching value, with the goal of students conducting 15-60 minute discussions with the patient and their family.
The engagement process involves intentional, structured yet organic questioning, allowing students to explore patients' values, sources of resilience, and personal stories. This practice challenges students to approach patients as whole persons, not merely as medical cases, fostering a compassionate presence at the bedside.
Debriefing sessions are focused on reflecting on key observations from bedside interactions, assessing the impact of various questioning techniques, and exploring the insights gained through these conversations. This time provides students with the space to reflect on and articulate their experiences, as well as consider how these insights might influence their future practice. Students are able to discuss the challenges they faced, share effective strategies they discovered, and integrate new insights into future patient interactions. By engaging in open dialogue as a group, they not only deepen their understanding of patient-centered care but also foster a supportive learning environment where they could learn from each other's experiences and perspectives. Post-session surveys of the student participants showed consistent themes of adding a “human aspect” to medicine as well as pushing the students outside of their comfort zone to provide a more holistic care to patients as well as their families.
Through observing and participating in compassionate, patient-centered dialogue, students learn to overcome discomfort and develop habits of empathy and whole person engagement. This panel aims to share the experiences of medical students and attending facilitators in developing and running Whole Person Care Rounds. Medical students will share about lessons learned from Whole Person Care rounds and their perspectives on how this has shaped their practice of whole person and spiritual care. Through this, panel participants will learn ways to have a “conversation on a conversation” with their learners through the process of orienting, engaging, and debriefing. Participants will leave equipped with practical strategies to integrate whole person care into education and daily practice, reinforcing the belief that every patient is a unique individual deserving of holistic care.
We will discuss how preparing for these interactions begins with a facilitator-led orientation discussing approaches to whole person care conversations, potential participant hesitations, and best practices for patient interactions before entering the patient's room. Patients are selected by the facilitator based on the appropriateness for both spiritual conversations and medical teaching value, with the goal of students conducting 15-60 minute discussions with the patient and their family.
The engagement process involves intentional, structured yet organic questioning, allowing students to explore patients' values, sources of resilience, and personal stories. This practice challenges students to approach patients as whole persons, not merely as medical cases, fostering a compassionate presence at the bedside.
Debriefing sessions are focused on reflecting on key observations from bedside interactions, assessing the impact of various questioning techniques, and exploring the insights gained through these conversations. This time provides students with the space to reflect on and articulate their experiences, as well as consider how these insights might influence their future practice. Students are able to discuss the challenges they faced, share effective strategies they discovered, and integrate new insights into future patient interactions. By engaging in open dialogue as a group, they not only deepen their understanding of patient-centered care but also foster a supportive learning environment where they could learn from each other's experiences and perspectives. Post-session surveys of the student participants showed consistent themes of adding a “human aspect” to medicine as well as pushing the students outside of their comfort zone to provide a more holistic care to patients as well as their families.
Through observing and participating in compassionate, patient-centered dialogue, students learn to overcome discomfort and develop habits of empathy and whole person engagement. This panel aims to share the experiences of medical students and attending facilitators in developing and running Whole Person Care Rounds. Medical students will share about lessons learned from Whole Person Care rounds and their perspectives on how this has shaped their practice of whole person and spiritual care. Through this, panel participants will learn ways to have a “conversation on a conversation” with their learners through the process of orienting, engaging, and debriefing. Participants will leave equipped with practical strategies to integrate whole person care into education and daily practice, reinforcing the belief that every patient is a unique individual deserving of holistic care.