The Center for Medical Simulation

On this week’s Curious Now Listeners, Jenny, Laura Rock, and Janice Palaganas each share a recent time that they’ve struggled to be transparent with their own thinking as they rejoin us to discuss their experience with last week’s workout of sharing one vulnerable point of view in a conversation to try to work towards a collaborative inquiry rather than mystery and defensiveness. Spotify: https://...

In decades of faculty and clinician training at the Center for Medical Simulation, we’ve identified one element of our approach to Good Judgment learning conversations that people have the most difficulty with. This obstacle can take what should be an insightful, curious inquiry and leave it with a defensive or confused learner. Similar effects happen in negotiations at point of care and feedback...

Janice Palaganas and Laura Rock join us for our first Listeners episode of this new chapter! This week we are discussing how the mental rehearsal of asking “What am I missing?” worked out for them in situations where they were very sure that they were right. Emerging again is a theme where our listeners find that they experience the work of checking their emotions and getting curious very differen...

Join us for our third chapter of Curious Now, as we talk about words and mindsets that can transform toxic culture! Becoming skeptical of your own thoughts and beliefs, bystanding your own perception of events so that you can ask with curiosity: “What am I missing here?” We’re setting the stage for our third chapter of Curious Now, looking at how we can skillfully lead teams and scale up our good...

BJ So and Mel Barlow join us for the final time to discuss last week’s exercise of trying to come up with a frame to understand an action we saw that didn’t make sense in the moment. BJ shares the story of a near miss in a complex case, and how he tried to understand his junior doctor’s actions. • Get coaching from Jenny Rudolph at www.harvardmedsim.org • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/72g...

Little Acts of Genius: In this week’s Curious Now, we’re introducing the idea of ‘Frames, Actions, Results’, an action science framework that CMS has used for many years to help advanced clinical and debriefing practitioners overcome the internal obstacles that are keeping them from being able to reach their goals. Here, we want to apply the framework to other people’s actions—what could the perso...

Mel Barlow and BJ So rejoin us to talk about the experience of testing using new listening styles at home and at work. Both noticed a similar trend of listening to respond with family and loved ones even when our professional practice is a conscious listening to understand. How do we bring what we know about being a better listener from our professional life back into our home life? • Get coaching...

This week on Curious Now we’re looking at new research on listening styles and how they impact our teams and cultures in the world of healthcare. What are we listening for when we listen to people? We’ll explore our default style, and notice how we can intentionally shift the way that we listen in order to lower our internal tension and work with others better. Get coaching from Jenny Rudolph at w...

In this week’s Curious Now, our two listeners examine the results they got using the Feedback Pre-Think Chart in preparation for a feedback conversation. In the first, BJ So describes being asked to supervise a more senior clinician learning a newer technique, while in the second Mel Barlow tries onboarding a new colleague from a less feedback-positive culture into an established team with good fe...

This week on Curious Now we dig into the central dilemma in all feedback conversations--how do I criticize your performance without hurting your feelings? On the podcast we've delved deeply into our own processing and understanding of our judgment and reactions to situations where someone else didn't meet our standard. Ultimately, though, for healthcare professionals we often have a final step whe...

This week on Curious Now, B.J. So and Mel Barlow return to share their experience with last week’s exercise on the generous inference. Get coaching from Jenny Rudolph at www.harvardmedsim.org Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/72gzzWGegiXd9i2G6UJ0kP Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-center-for-medical-simulation/id1279266822

In this week’s Curious Now, Jenny explains how the “Generous Inference” was a complete game-changer for her career in debriefing and education, how it became the core philosophy of the Center for Medical Simulation, and how to bring it to play in healing your toxic work culture. Get coaching from Jenny Rudolph at www.harvardmedsim.org Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/72gzzWGegiXd9i2G6UJ0kP A...

Welcome to our second chapter of Curious Now! We’re joined by a new set of simulation educators as they work through our weekly workouts together. For the next five episodes, we’ll have an Australian focus as we’re joined by B.J. So, an anesthetist and simulation educator based in the Sydney area, and Mel Barlow, a registered nurse and academic lead for faculty support at Australian Catholic Unive...

In this month's CMS Book Club, Roxane Gardner, Executive Director of the Center for Medical Simulation, is joined by Jenny Rudolph, Grace Ng, and James Lipshaw to discuss Melanie Deziel's "The Content Fuel Framework." Join us for a spicy discussion on getting your team's message heard, whether ideas have any value at all, and if this book is a useful tool for those brought up in the STEM pathway t...

A nurse of Ned/Surg has been there for two years. She’s interested in moving into cardiac care—she’s always been interested in it—and as she sits in the break room, the clinical nurse specialist comes in to talk to her, and says, “Hey, we’re going to be able to get you some time in the CCU! We should be able to do this in the next couple of weeks. I know you’ve really been wanting to get some expe...

Colleen Donovan shares a story from her time as a resident where an encounter with a consistently angry, unhelpful, and very sick patient turned into a moment of wonderful human connection and support after she was able to reset herself and get curious about what was going on. Coaching from Jenny Rudolph at www.harvardmedsim.org Curious Now on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/72gzzWGegiXd9i2...

If you’re in the same boat as so many of the clinicians we work with, you may be feeling that the puff is still out of your pillow post-pandemic. Understaffed, working with colleagues who are newer to their professions, and feeling like there are fewer moments we can rest in trusting our teams to get the work done right. In the final episode of Chapter 1 of Curious Now, we put the whole package to...

Our guests for Chapter One explain their struggle with understanding the standards of other people when implementing new practices for competency-based education. The faculty have tried to explain a continuous growth and development model, but students are still hearing, “You didn’t perform well enough to pass.” What are the barriers to understanding how the students perceive the program, and how...

Colleen Donovan and Laura Klenke-Borgmann rejoin Jenny to discuss the emotions that came up as they explored last week’s exercise. Join us to compare your own experience with last week’s workout to other simulation educators and experts! Curious Now on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/72gzzWGegiXd9i2G6UJ0kP Curious Now on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-center-for-m...

What happens when someone’s actions don’t meet our standard? Even in innocuous situations, with complete strangers, we can find that we have a flaming hot judgment rearing up inside of us. Instead of thinking, “I bet this person has a really good reason for doing what they’ve doing,” our first reaction is often, “What an idiot!” In this week’s episode, Jenny explores how when there’s a conflict, w...

Continuing along the chain from hidden judgments and hidden standards, Jenny Rudolph explores the fundamental question beneath the heat of workplace conflicts—why does other people’s failure to meet our hidden standards make us so upset? How do we cool off these conflicts and help ourselves move forward? Learn more from Jenny Rudolph at www.harvardmedsim.org Curious Now on Spotify: https://open.sp...

Following up on last week’s challenge to examine our complaints and judgments to reveal the hidden standards underlying them, Jenny continues our chapter-long conversation with Colleen Donovan and Laura Klenke-Borgmann. Curious Now on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/72gzzWGegiXd9i2G6UJ0kP Curious Now on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-center-for-medical-simulation/...

In Chris Voss' book "Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended on It", one major point made is that a high-stakes conversation is never just about the words being said. Much more, it's about hearing the emotional state of the other person and really listening to what they have to say and what they need from you. How does this compare to your model for debriefing after a crit...

Every "judgment" or "complaint" we have about others reveals a hidden standard that we hold about how people should behave, both in our general lives and in the workplace. By becoming aware of our own hidden standards, we can defuse the heat of arguments when we think someone else is doing something "wrong." Learn more from Jenny Rudolph at www.harvardmedsim.org Curious Now on Spotify: https://ope...

A nurse preceptor has just watched a trainee commit a serious error despite hours of lecture, reading, and hands on training. In spite of herself, she starts to heat up, much like the more severe clinical educators who trained her years ago. "Why can't you just get this right?" In this moment, how do we reset ourself to a place of care, curiosity, and compassion? How do we model a better culture o...