Studies in Empathy: A Cleveland Clinic Podcast

How do you keep an entire enterprise operating effectively and efficiently while maintaining empathy and putting patients first?  Join host, Steph Bayer, as she sits down with Andi Jacobs, Executive Director of Operations at Cleveland Clinic.  In this episode, Andi shares her career journey and how each experience has shaped her as a leader while shedding light on how important each piece of the o...

Does building a culture of high reliability help caregivers show empathy to patients and to each other?  Listen as host Steph Bayer and Cleveland Clinic Associate Chief Safety Officer, Dr. Amrit Gill discuss how empathy is key to building a culture of open communication, psychological safety, accountability, and high reliability.

What is it like to have a patient's life in your hands? Host Steph Bayer speaks with Dr. Cassandra Garraud, a third-year Internal Medicine resident at Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Garraud was recognized in 2021 as a Cleveland Clinic Hero for the personal impact she made on one of her patients. In this episode, she tells us about that powerful moment, how empathy was crucial to saving her patient&apo...

What does it mean to be an empathetic leader? In this episode, host Steph Bayer has a conversation with Christine Stead, CEO of the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) and adjunct instructor at the University of Michigan. Christine talks about the role of her organization during the harrowing COVID-19 pandemic, the power of servant leadership, and why diversity is needed for empathy to...

How do we create joy for others and for ourselves? Join host Steph Bayer in a radiant conversation with Corporal Eric Hudson, an officer who has been with the Cleveland Clinic Police Department for 20 years. In this episode bursting with energy, Corporal Hudson shares what inspires him to shake out dance moves on the crosswalk, empathize with patients and fellow caregivers, and brighten the lives...

How do we respond to challenges involving trauma? Join host Steph Bayer and Katharine Manning, author of The Empathetic Workplace: 5 Steps to a Compassionate, Calm, and Confident Response to Trauma on the Job. In this episode, Katharine talks about her 25+ years of experience working on issues of trauma and victimization, how empathy is key to connecting with survivors, and how we can better suppo...

Can music heal? Listen as host Steph Bayer and Cleveland Clinic Music Therapist, Christine Bomberger, explore how music can help ease pain and reduce stress and anxiety for patients. Together they discuss how the addition of a recording studio within the Children's Hospital allowed patients and loved ones to be creative, maintain connections, and ease suffering during difficult times.

What do our patients really want us to know about how they want to be treated? Join host Steph Bayer and Kate Watson, a longtime patient of Cleveland Clinic who was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer at 35. Together they discuss what patients really want and need from their healthcare providers and how the patient voice is a vital part of the care we provide.

Why is volunteerism so important and how does it impact both our patients and staff? Hear from Cleveland Clinic Volunteer Director, Alicia Pitre, as she shares her own passion for volunteerism and how today’s healthcare volunteers give their time to provide support, encouragement and an empathic perspective to help lighten the loads on our patients and caregivers.

What do future healthcare leaders think of the current state of our industry and where it is heading? In this episode, graduate students and Cleveland Clinic interns, Yamileth Gonzalez and Ermonela Muhameti, talk with host Steph Bayer to share their unique perspectives as immigrants who came to the United States at a young age. These experiences helped shape their passions for improving healthcare...

How do healthcare organizations utilize empathy to ensure all patients receive the best care possible without any biases? Listen in as we have this important conversation with Rachel Godsil, distinguished professor of law at Rutgers Law School and co-founder and co-director of the Perception Institute, an institute devoted to creating solutions to reduced discrimination and other harms linked to c...

How do we truly see and serve our patients to magnify their dignity? In this episode, Dr. Wesley Ely shares his passion for treating critically ill patients and his philosophy that we cannot heal patients with technology if we do not first see them for who they are as a human being.

Have you been training your empathy lately? Just like our muscles, we can train ourselves to be more empathetic and there is science to prove it. Listen in as we speak with Dr. Helen Riess, the founder and CEO of Empathetics and Psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, about the neuroscience and benefits of empathy in healthcare.

“Hey Alexa, play my favorite song!” You immediately smile and your mood is suddenly lifted. Why is that? Tune in to hear Maria Jukic, a senior director for the Arts & Medicine Institute at the Cleveland Clinic and host, Steph Bayer, explore the science behind the impact art has on our health and wellbeing.

How do healthcare organizations continue to provide the best patient experience with a burned-out and exhausted staff? Do we still expect caregivers to provide the same level of care they did before the COVID pandemic? Join us in this episode with Sven Gierlinger, Chief Experience Officer at Northwell Health, and Rick Evans, Senior Vice President of Patient Services and Chief Experience Officer at...

Who do you call for the toughest patient care cases that don’t seem to have a clear path forward? In this episode, Dr. Jane Jankowski, Director of the Center for Bioethics and Dr. Georgina Morley, Director of the Nurse Ethics Program at Cleveland Clinic share how they and their teams advise and support the clinical teams in the most complex and distressing situations.

How do you build a facility from the ground up in a new country that maintains the organization’s model around delivering empathic care while incorporating the knowledge, experience and expertise of the UK’s healthcare professionals? Join Dr. Jim Gutierrez, Chief of Quality, Safety, and Patient Experience at Cleveland Clinic London as he shares the journey of Cleveland Clinic London from inception...

How can improv and communication skills translate to a more creative, compassionate and empathetic environment in the healthcare setting? Listen as we explore the why and how of better listening, empathetic communication, being others focused with Kelly Leonard, the Executive Director of Learning and Applied Improvisation at Second City Works. Additionally, Kelly shares how his own personal and pr...

How can organizations take advantage of advanced technologies to care for patients while maintaining compassion, empathy and the human touch? In this episode, Cleveland Clinic's Chief Information Officer, Matt Kull, shares how the organization leverages data and technology to personalize the patient experience while maintaining privacy and the highest standards of care.

How do you foster empathy and resiliency during difficult times? Join us in a conversation with Steph Bayer, Senior Director, Patient Experience and Paul Kuzmickas, Director, Ombudsman at Cleveland Clinic as they discuss how ombudsman and patient experience leaders work to have the tough conversations and carry the heavy loads in order to provide support to patients, visitors and employees alike.

Seeking help is a sign of strength, not a sign of weakness. Yet many are reluctant to seek help in times of grief or hardship. In this episode, Amy Freadling, Ph. D. discusses the importance of caring for healthcare workers, finding meaning in our losses, and rebuilding from within.

Is a DO more inclined to touch a patient than an MD? In this episode, Leonard Calabrese, DO discusses empathy as a measurable and reproducible science. Drawing on his experiences as a physician, researcher, professor, and human being, Calabrese also recounts his personal journey in empathy.

How can an organization standardize and sustain a culture of empathy from the bedside to the board room? In this episode, Carol Santalucia, the founder of Cleveland Clinic's Communicate with H.E.A.R.T. ® program, reveals the importance of listening to caregivers.

How do you build a culture of consistent performance, decreased suffering, fulfilling the promise to our patients and caregivers? Join us in a conversation with Leslie Jurecko, MD, sharing strategies, behaviors, and processes that create and support a high reliability organization.

How do we filter through the research, publications, and ways to measure value and quality outcomes to assess what indeed is a best practice? Join us with Laura Cooley, Ph. D., in a discussion on how we can prevent getting derailed and focus on effective best practices to create authentic connections.