2014-15: Compassion in Healthcare

About

compassion in healthcare joshua hordern

'Compassion in Healthcare'

 

Knowledge Exchange Fellow:
Professor Joshua Hordern   |   Faculty of Theology and Religion   |   University of Oxford

Partner Organisation:
The Royal Society of Medicine, Open Section

 

 

Initially funded by a TORCH Knowledge Exchange Fellowship, Professor Joshua Hordern has been engaging in knowledge exchange activities with a range of external partners on the theme of ‘healthcare and compassion’ since 2014.

Professor Hordern’s research has drawn on theological and philosophical sources such as Aristotelian Thought and Christian Ethics to explore the meaning and practice of compassion. Subsequent knowledge exchange activities have allowed him to engage with a range of external partners to explore what this analysis can contribute to addressing some of the challenges of modern healthcare.

Patients, staff and the wider public are usually very aware of the importance of maintaining compassion. But the health system operates in the context of an ageing and expanding population, increasing potential treatments, and limited funding to set against ever increasing demand. This context can erode the compassion of individual staff, patients and carers, and even healthcare institutions, and lead to lower staff resilience, poorer health outcomes, and a rise in complaints and litigation.

Professor Hordern’s wide ranging partnerships with organisations such as the Royal Society of Medicine, the Royal College of Physicians, and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, as well as many other academic and clinical bodies, have allowed him to explore what consideration of compassion – and values such as integrity, trust and respect – can bring to healthcare challenges. For example:

  • Compassionate Excellence: a workshop series co-designed with departments of Oxford University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is exploring what the Trust’s strategic objective of ‘delivering compassionate excellence’ means for patients and healthcare staff, and helping participants to identify policy and practice changes that can improve services and strengthen compassionate excellence.
     
  • Advancing Medical Professionalism: Co-authored with the Royal College of Physicians, the Advancing Medical Professionalism (AMP) report consulted with a range of medical bodies, patients, academics, and practitioners to explore the professional skills, values and attributes essential to the modern doctor. Professor Hordern and colleagues are now working with partners to embed the approaches recommended by AMP in medical training, continuing professional development, and wider medical policy and practice.
     
  • The promise of precision: A series of knowledge exchange workshops (2016-8) with academic researchers, clinical experts, and patient organisations explored the hype and expectation around so-called ‘precision medicine’. Precision Medicine uses targeted therapy, based on the individual patient’s precise genetic diagnosis, to deliver more personalised and effective treatment. But what happens to patients who find that there is no appropriate treatment for them? And how do medical staff best communicate the reality of precision medicine to patients?

For more information about Professor Hordern’s work on healthcare and compassion, please see the Oxford Healthcare Values Partnership website.

Professor Hordern acknowledges support of the Wellcome Trust, the Arts & Humanities Research Council, and the Higher Education Innovation Fund.

 

 

Past Events

2014-15: Compassion in Healthcare

 
compassion in healthcare joshua hordern
 
Poster presentation 'Compassion in Healthcare' (April 2014) 
Meeting:  the was main aim the creation and maintenance of a body of knowledge and a community of scholars and practitioners engaged in the ethics of primary healthcare. An interdisciplinary event to explore the ethical choices that clinicians make every day in commonplace situations. 
 
Contexts for Compassion in Healthcare: Exploring Visions of the Good (September 2014) 
Workshop: 
Speakers/Presenters 
  • Dr Joshua Hordern, Associate Professor of Christian Ethics, Oxford 
  • Dr Andrew Papanikitas, GP & NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in General Practice, Oxford 
  • Dr Thomas Miller, Clinical Research Fellow, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences 
  • Prof John Wyatt, Emeritus Professor of Perinatology and Ethics, UCL 
  • Dr Ann Bradshaw, Senior Lecturer in Adult Nursing, Oxford Brookes 
  • Dr David Jones, Director, Anscombe Centre, Oxford 
  • Dr Roger Newham, Senior Lecturer, Adult Nursing, Bucks New University 
  • Dr Trevor Stammers, GP, Programme Director Bioethics/Law, St Marys Twickenham 
  • Dr Jim Harris, Curator, Ashmolean University Engagement Programme 
 
Politics, law, leadership and compassion in healthcare (November 2014) 
Workshop: 
Confirmed speakers/presenters (including) 
  • Prof Jonathan Herring, Tutor and Fellow in Law, Exeter College, Oxford 
  • Dr Stephen Richards, Regional GP Advisor for London, Care Quality Commission 
  • Dr Joshua Hordern, Associate Professor of Christian Ethics, Oxford 
  • Dr Andrew Papanikitas, GP & NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in General Practice, Oxford 
 
Educating Compassion in Healthcare: Is It Possible and What Would It Mean? (December 2014) 
Conference to explore what education has to do with the practice of compassion in healthcare. 
Speakers/presenters 
  • Dr Joshua Hordern, Associate Professor of Christian Ethics, Oxford 
  • Dr Andrew Papanikitas, GP & NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in General Practice, Oxford 
  • Dr Paquita de Zulueta, GP & Honorary Senior Lecturer, Imperial College London 
  • Dr Bee Wee, National Clinical Director for End of Life Care, NHS England 
  • Prof John Wyatt, Emeritus Professor of Perinatology and Ethics, UCL 
  • Prof Jonathan Herring, Tutor and Fellow in Law, Exeter College, Oxford 
  • Dr Helen Salisbury, GP & Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer in Communication Skills, Oxford 
 
What can policy-makers learn from the humanities? (September 2015) 
Programme 
  • Welcome: Drs Emma Mckenzie-Edwards and Andrew Papanikitas 
  • Innovation in EU policy making: A role for Arts and Humanities, Dr Ioanna Psalti, Dime Ltd 
  • Mingle and discussion: What can policy-makers learn from the Humanities when addressing issues in retention and recruitment of the healthcare workforce? 
  • Video interviews conducted by the Healthcare Values Partnership 
 
Healing, Personal Values and Narratives in Healthcare (September 2015) 
Speakers 
Dr Andrew Papanikitas (Oxford University), Professor Bill Fulford (The Collaborating Centre for Values-based Practice), Samuel Shem, Janet Surrey, Louise Locock (Health Experiences Research Group, Oxford University), Dr Helen Salisbury (Oxford Medical School), Dr Emma McKenzie-Edwards (GP tutor, Hertford College Oxford) 
Programme: 
  • Welcome by Chair Dr Andrew Papanikitas (Oxford University) 
  • An invitation to interdisciplinary discourse and an introduction to values-based practice: Professor Bill Fulford (The Collaborating Centre for Values-based Practice) 
  • Healing relationships on the stage and in the healthcare workplace: Samuel Shem and Janet Surrey 
  • 1500-1530: Learning from others' narratives: accelerated experience-based co-design: Louise Locock (Health Experiences Research Group, Oxford University) 
  • Narratives and medical education at Oxford University: A discussion with Drs Helen Salisbury (Oxford Medical School) and Dr Emma McKenzie-Edwards (GP tutor, Hertford College Oxford) 
  • What can we learn about humane healthcare practice from the novels of Samuel Shem? Samuel Shem 
  • Informal discussion on a theme of interdisciplinary engagement between the humanities and the medical sciences
The Royal Society of Medicine Medical Humanities Conference (October 2015) 
RSM’s Open Section medical humanities conference 
Highlights included: 
  • Author Samuel Shem discussed his literary and academic work  
  • The role of the theatre in medical education 
  • Staying human in medicine – lessons for clinician resilience and compassionate practice 
  • How literature has impacted medicine and vice versa 
  • The opportunity to meet and network with colleagues with an interest in the medical humanities 
 
Markets, Healthcare and Professionalism (February 2016) 
Seminar: 
Markets and meaning in healthcare: themes emerging from the Engaging Healthcare conference 
Presentation/discussion led by Dr Joshua Hordern and Dr Andrew Papanikitas 
Compassion, Markets and the Healthcare Environment 
Presentation/discussion led by Dr Therese Feiler and Dr Mahima Mitra 
Personalised/Precision Medicine, Primary Healthcare and the Role of Markets 
Presentation/Discussion led by Dr Joshua Hordern & Dr Anant Jani 
 
Personalised Medicine: The Promise, the Hype and the Pitfalls (September 2016) 
Programme 
Session 1: The promise and the hype of ‘personalised medicine’ 
CHAIR: Joshua Hordern (Associate Professor of Christian Ethics, Healthcare Values Partnership, University of Oxford) 
SPEAKERS:  
Tim Maughan (Professor of Clinical Oncology, University of Oxford) Richard Barker (Centre for the Advancement of Sustainable Medical Innovation, Oxford) 
Steve Sturdy (Professor of the Sociology of Medical Knowledge, University of Edinburgh) 
Session 2: The human person and the communication of risk 
CHAIR: Rob Horne (Professor of Behavioural Medicine, UCL School of Pharmacy) 
SPEAKERS:  
Sian Rees (Director, Oxford Health Experiences Institute, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences) 
Joshua Hordern  (Associate Professor of Christian Ethics, Healthcare Values Partnership, University of Oxford), Alastair Kent (Genetic Alliance UK). 
Session 3: Data sharing and participation 
CHAIR: Ingrid Slade (Director, Centre for Personalised Medicine, University of Oxford) 
SPEAKERS:  
Mark Lawler (Prof of Genetics, Queens University Belfast) 
Anna Middleton (Principal Social Scientist, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute). 
Session 4: Equity and commissioning 
CHAIR: Richard Sullivan (Chair in Cancer Policy and Global Health, KCL) 
SPEAKERS included: 
Muir Gray (Better Value Healthcare, Honorary Professor, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences) 
Medical Humanities Conference (September 2016) 
 
Presenters included:  
  • Dr Helen Small (Professor of English Literature, University of Oxford) 
  • Dr Andrew Papanikitas (GP and NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in General Practice, Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford) 
  • Dr Claire Pulford (Divisional Education Lead (Medicine), Consultant Physician, Trauma/Geratology, John Radcliffe Hospital) 
  • Dr Sophie Ratcliffe (Associate Professor of English, University of Oxford, The Poetry of Medicine) 
  • Dr Andrew Schumann (GP and author, The Poetry of Medicine) 
  • Dr Emma McKenzie-Edwards, (GP King Edward Street and GP tutor, University of Oxford) 
  • Dr Jeremy Howick (Senior Researcher, Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford) 
  • Dr Joshua Hordern (Associate Professor of Christian Ethics, Oxford Healthcare Values Partnership, University of Oxford)  
  • Professor Deborah Bowman (Editor, Journal of Medical Humanities) 
  • Dr Paquita De Zulueta (Open Section, Royal Society of Medicine) 
  • Dr Trevor Stammers (Centre for Bioethics and Emerging Technologies). 
 
Concepts of Disease: Dysfunction, Responsibility and Sin (January 2017) 
Conference: 
Speakers: 
  • Havi Carel (Professor of Philosophy, University of Bristol) 
  • Jonathan Herring (Professor of Law, University of Oxford) 
  • Joshua Hordern (Associate Professor of Christian Ethics, University of Oxford) 
  • Neil Messer (Professor of Theology, University of Winchester) 
  • Andrew Moscrop (GP and Researcher, Department of Primary Care, University of Oxford) 
  • Thomas Schramme (Professor of Philosophy, University of Liverpool) 
  • Katherine Southwood (Associate Professor, University of Oxford) 
  • Jan Westerhoff (Associate Professor in Religious Ethics, University of Oxford) 
  • Therese Feiler (Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Oxford) 
 
The Molecularly Unstratified Patient (September 2017) 
Workshop funded by the AHRC grant Compassion in Healthcare: Practical Policy for Civic Life and is held in partnership with the MRC/CRUK stratified medicine consortium in colorectal cancer (S:CORT). 
 
Intelligent Technologies and Authority (October 2017) 
Workshop event in a joint workstream in the Royal College of Physicians project Professionalism and Trust, led by Dr Jude Tweedie, and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded project Compassion in Healthcare: Practical Policy for Civic Life, led by Professor Joshua Hordern. The second of three workshops which explored key themes and produce text for ‘The Dedicated Doctor’ report to be published by the Royal College of Physicians London. 
 
Talking About Dying: The Biggest Question (November 2017) 
Symposium following the publication of “Talking about dying” by Philip Giddings, Martin Down, Elaine Sugden and Gareth Tuckwell. 
To be able to talk about dying with insight and compassion is a vital characteristic of a wise society. The Oxford Healthcare Values Partnership has helped to organise this event in order to promote such conversation about dying. 
 
Humanities and Healthcare: Information, Networking, Support (June 2019) 
An information, networking and support event bringing together colleagues from humanities disciplines and various areas of healthcare and medical sciences to explore the benefits, opportunities and practicalities of collaboration. 
  • Senior researchers, including Prof Sally Shuttleworth, Prof Peter Friend and Prof Joshua Hordern and others shared their experience of collaboration  
  • Professor Chas Bountra, Vice Chancellor for Innovation, talked to the potential for innovation across humanities and healthcare 
  • Colleagues shared information about internal funding opportunities and gave pointers to further information and advice, including input from Prof Matthew Freeman who provided insights into the Wellcome Institutional Strategic Support Fund (ISSF) 
  • The afternoon finished with  Advice Surgery, aimed particularly at early career researchers (ECRs) with a focus on identifying funding opportunities, building research bids, and planning policy engagement activities. 
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